Issued  December  21,  1910. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


FARMERS’  BULLETIN  424. 


OATS: 

GROWING  THE  CROP. 


BY 


C.  W.  WARBURTON, 

Agronomist  in  Charge  of  Oat  Investigations , 
Bureau  of  Plant  Industry. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 

1910. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


IT.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Bureau  of  Plant  Industry, 

Office  of  the  Chief, 
Washington ,  I).  C.,  September  21,  1910. 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  and  to  recommend  for  publica¬ 
tion  as  a  Farmers’  Bulletin  the  accompanying  manuscript  on  uOats: 
Growing  the  Crop,”  prepared  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Warburton,  Agronomist 
in  Charge  of  Oat  Investigations,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  M.  A. 
Car  let  on,  Cerealist  in  Charge  of  Grain  Investigations. 

With  the  single  exception  of  wheat,  oats  is  the  most  important 
small-grain  crop  in  this  country.  In  general,  however,  our  climatic 
conditions  are  not  favorable  to  the  production  of  this  crop,  while  the 
methods  of  growing  it  do  not  produce  the  best  results  in  yield  or 
quality.  This  bulletin  gives  the  best  available  information  on  the 
proper  methods  of  growing  and  harvesting  oats.  The  publications 
of  the  state  agricultural  experiment  stations  have  been  freely  used 
in  its  preparation,  and  experimental  data  are  presented  to  substan¬ 
tiate  most  of  the  statements  made. 

Respectfully, 


Hon.  James  Wilson, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 


Wm.  A.  Taylor, 
Acting  Chief  of  Bureau. 


424 

2 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Introduction . 5 

Origin  and  history  of  oats .  5 

Description  of  the  oat  plant .  6 

Soils  adapted  to  the  production  of  oats .  6 

Types  of  soil .  6 

Fertilizers  and  manures .  7 

Liming .  9 

Oats  in  the  rotation . 10 

Place  in  the  rotation .  10 

Common  rotations  which  include  oats . 10 

Clearing  the  land  of  weeds . 11 

Use  as  a  nurse  crop .  11 

Use  as  a  cover  crop .  12 

Growing  in  mixtures  with  other  crops .  12 

Preparation  of  the  seed  bed .  13 

Preparation  of  the  seed .  16 

Cleaning  and  grading .  16 

Treating  for  smut .  17 

Sowing  the  seed . , .  18 

Date  of  seeding .  18 

Rate  of  seeding.. .  19 

Method  of  seeding .  20 

Depth  of  seeding .  22 

Treatment  after  seeding .  22 

Cultivation .  22 

Spraying  to  kill  weeds .  23 

Cutting  back  to  prevent  lodging .  24 

Irrigation .  24 

Harvesting  the  crop .  25 

Cutting .  25 

Shocking .  26 

Stacking .  28 

Shock  versus  stack  thrashing .  28 

Thrashing .  29 

Storing  the  grain .  29 

Yields .  29 

Cost  of  production . 30 

Varieties  adapted  to  different  sections  of  the  United  States . . .  31 

General  statement .  31 

New  England  and  New  York .  35 

Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland .  35 

South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States .  35 

West  Virginia  and  Kentucky .  36 

Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  the  Dakotas .  36 

424 


3 


4 


CONTENTS. 


Varieties  adapted  to  different  sections  of  the  United  States — Continued.  Page. 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Nebraska .  37 

Missouri,  Kansas,  Oklahoma,  and  Arkansas .  37 

Rocky  Mountain  States .  37 

Pacific  States .  38 

Improvement  of  the  crop .  38 

Effect  of  the  source  of  seed  on  yield .  38 

Importation  of  seed  oats .  39 

Field  selection  of  seed .  39 

Diseases  affecting  oats .  40 

The  smuts .  40 

The  rusts .  40 

Other  diseases .  41 

Insects  injurious  to  oats .  42 

Insects  attacking  the  growing  plant .  42 

Insects  attacking  the  stored  grain .  42 

Summary .  43 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Fig.  1.  End-gate  seeder  commonly  used  for  the  broadcast  seeding  of  grain - 

2.  The  end-gate  seeder  shown  in  figure  1  in  operation  in  a  field  of  stand¬ 

ing  cornstalks . 

3.  Disking  corn  land  preparatory  to  sowing  oats . 

4.  Stalk  cutter  designed  to  cut  two  rows  of  cornstalks . 

5.  Grain  drill  in  operation  on  well-prepared  ground . 

6.  Grain  binder  at  work  in  an  oat  field  in  North  Dakota . 

7.  A  long,  uncapped  shock  in  which  practically  all  of  the  grain  is  exposed 

to  the  weather . 

8.  A  well-built,  round  shock,  capped  to  protect  most  of  the  grain  from 

weathering . 

9.  Apparatus  for  elevating  grain  from  the  wagon  to  the  bin . 

10.  Grains  of  four  varieties  of  oats  which  differ  in  shape,  size,  and  color. . 

11.  Two  types  of  oat  heads:  Spreading,  or  panicled  oats  and  side,  or  horse- 

mane  oats . 

12.  Map  of  the  United  States,  showing  approximately  the  areas  to  which 

certain  types  of  oats  are  adapted . 

13.  Smut  of  oats:  Smutted  head  and  head  not  affected  by  smut . 


Page. 

14 

15 

15 

16 
21 
26 

27 

27 

30 

32 

33 

34 
41 


424 


B.  P.  I.— 618. 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Oats  is  one  of  the  most  important  grain  crops  in  the  North  Tem¬ 
perate  Zone.  In  the  United  States  this  crop  is  exceeded  in  area  and 
value  only  by  corn  and  wheat,  while  in  Canada  it  is  even  more  gen¬ 
erally  grown  than  in  the  United  States.  In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
the  acreage  devoted  to  oats  is  little  less  than  that  devoted  to  all  other 
grain  crops.  In  Germany  it  exceeds  the  combined  acreage  of  wheat 
and  barley  and  is  second  only  to  rye.  In  all  the  countries  of  northern 
Europe  the  oat  crop  occupies  an  important  place.  In  spite  of  its 
importance,  no  other  grain  crop  in  the  United  States  is  handled  so 
carelessly,  particularly  in  the  States  where  the  crop  is  most  largely 
grown;  there  is  little  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  yields  secured  are 
often  unsatisfactory  and  the  crop  sometimes  unprofitable.  The  aim 
of  this  bulletin  is  to  outline  the  best  methods  of  producing  oats,  as 
demonstrated  by  the  work  of  the  agricultural  experiment  stations 
and  practiced  by  good  farmers.  The  utilization  of  the  crop  is  dis¬ 
cussed  in  Farmers7  Bulletin  420,  entitled  “Oats:  Distribution  and 
Uses.” 

ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF  OATS. 

The  original  wild  form  of  the  cultivated  oat  is  not  definitely  known, 
although  it  is  believed  to  have  existed  in  western  Asia  and  eastern 
Europe.  The  records  do  not  show  that  this  crop  was  known  to  the 
early  Egyptians,  Greeks,  or  Romans,  as  were  wheat  and  barley.  It 
is  probable  that  oats  were  first  cultivated  in  northern  and  central 
Europe,  in  what  is  now  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia.  Like  several 
of  our  other  cultivated  plants,  this  grain  was  carried  westward  from 
its  place  of  origin  in  western  Asia  and  eastern  Europe  by  the  migra¬ 
tion  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  region  early  in  the  Christian  era.  It  is 
probable  that  oats  were  first  used  for  feeding  animals  and  that  their 
use  as  human  food  was  confined  to  times  when  other  grain  or  food  was 
scarce.  Its  general  use  as  food  for  man  is  evidently  of  recent  origin 
and  is  due  to  the  development  of  milling  machinery.  Naturally  the 
people  of  early  times  used  as  food  those  grains  which  could  be  pre¬ 
pared  most  easily.  For  this  reason  wheat  and  rye,  which  thrash 
clean,  were  used  instead  of  oats,  which  remain  inclosed  in  the  hull. 

424  5 


6 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


Our  cultivated  varieties  are  generally  believed  to  have  been 
developed  from  Avena  sativa,  though  some  botanists  claim  that 
Avena  fatua,  the  common  wild  oat,  or  Avena  strigosa,  one  of  the  Euro¬ 
pean  wild  oats,  was  the  parent  species.  Others  assert  that  the  oats 
commonly  grown  in  our  Southern  States  and  in  southern  Europe  were 
developed  from  Avena  sterilis,  the  wild  oat  of  northern  Africa.  The 
side  or  eastern  oat  and  the  naked  or  hull-less  oat,  though  now  widely 
different  in  form  from  the  common  or  panicled  type,  are  believed  to 
have  had  the  same  origin,  and  all  are  usually  classed  as  varietal  forms 
of  Avena  sativa. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  OAT  PLANT. 

The  oat,  like  most  of  our  other  grains,  is  classed  by  botanists  among 
the  grasses,  or  Gramineae.  It  belongs  to  the  genus  Avena,  which 
includes  in  addition  to  the  cultivated  oat,  Avena  sativa,  a  number  of 
wild  species,  like  Avena  fatua,  the  common  wild  oat,  which  are  trouble¬ 
some  weeds.  None  of  the  closely  related  plants  are  of  much  economic 
importance,  though  tall  oat-grass  and  velvet  grass  are  grown  to  some 
extent  as  forage  grasses. 

The  oat  plant  produces  several  jointed,  hollow  stems,  or  culms,  2  to 
5  feet  in  height,  averaging  about  3J  feet.  The  roots  are  small  and 
fibrous,  but  penetrate  the  soil  to  a  depth  of  3  or  4  feet.  The  leaves  are 
rather  broader  and  more  numerous  than  those  of  wheat.  The  panicles, 
or  heads,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  are  usually  open,  or  spreading, 
but  occasionally  the  branches  of  the  panicle  are  much  shortened  and 
turned  to  one  side,  producing  the  type  known  as  side,  or  horse-mane, 
oats.  The  grain  is  borne  on  small  branches  of  the  panicle,  in  spike- 
lets,  which  vary  in  number  from  25  to  100  or  more.  Usually  these 
spikelets  contain  two  grains,  though  in  some  varieties  several  are 
produced.  The  spikelet  is  loosely  inclosed  within  the  outer  glumes, 
or  chaff,  which,  with  the  culms,  or  straw,  become  light  yellow  at 
maturity.  The  individual  grains  are  usually  tightly  inclosed  in  the 
flowering  glumes  or  hull,  though  in  the  form  known  as  hull-less  oats 
the  flowering  glumes  are  easily  removed.  The  hull  varies  in  color  with 
the  different  varieties,  the  most  common  colors  being  white,  yellow, 
reddish-brown,  and  black.  The  kernel  is  rather  more  slender  than 
that  of  wheat,  usually  much  softer,  and  is  thickly  covered  with  fine 
hairs;  it  ordinarily  makes  up  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  weight 
of  the  whole  grain. 

SOILS  ADAPTED  TO  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  OATS. 

TYPES  OF  SOIL. 

In  the  production  of  oats  proper  climatic  and  cultural  conditions 
are  of  more  importance  than  the  character  or  even  the  fertility  of  the 
soil.  Owing  to  their  greater  water-holding  capacity  loam  and  clay 

424 


OATS:  GEOWING  THE  CROP. 


7 


soils  usually  produce  better  crops  than  sandy  soils.  Sandy  land 
with  plenty  of  plant  food  and  a  moderately  stiff  subsoil  will  grow 
good  oats,  but  heavy,  undrained  clays  are  too  wet  and  cold  for  the  best 
growth  of  the  crop.  More  water  is  required  to  produce  a  pound  of  dry 
matter  in  oats  than  in  any  other  cereal,  hence  the  necessity  for  grow¬ 
ing  this  crop  on  land  which  naturally  retains  moisture  or  which  is  well 
filled  with  humus.  On  account  of  their  liability  to  lodge,  oats  should 
not  be  grown  on  very  rich  soil  or  on  low,  undrained  lands.  Good 
drainage  is  essential  also  in  the  prevention  of  injury  from  plant 
diseases. 

FERTILIZERS  AND  MANURES. 

The  quantities  of  the  three  important  fertilizing  elements  removed 
by  a  crop  of  grain  vary  somewhat  in  different  portions  of  the  country, 
as  they  depend  on  the  yield  of  the  individual  crop  and  the  proportion 
of  grain  to  straw.  For  this  reason  no  general  estimate  of  the  fertilizer 
removed  by  an  acre  of  oats  can  be  given.  According  to  Chilcott® 
under  South  Dakota  conditions  a  45-bushel  crop  of  oats  removed 
from  the  soil  approximately  44  pounds  of  nitrogen,  16  pounds  of 
phosphoric  acid,  and  37  pounds  of  potash.  A  30-bushel  crop  of 
corn  removed  a  little  more  phosphoric  acid  and  potash  and  about 
one-third  more  nitrogen  than  the  oats,  while  a  40-bushel  crop  of 
barley  removed  considerably  more  of  all  three  of  these  fertilizing 
elements.  A  15-bushel  crop  of  wheat  removed  but  35  pounds  of 
nitrogen,  9  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  15  pounds  of  potash. 
These  figures  show  that  nearly  as  much  fertility  is  required  to  pro¬ 
duce  a  good  crop  of  oats  as  of  any  other  grain,  so  that  the  common 
practice  of  using  the  poorest  land  on  the  farm  for  growing  oats  is  not 
to  be  commended.  While  the  oat  crop  is  a  vigorous  feeder  and  will 
do  better  on  poor  soils  than  will  most  other  grain  crops,  yet  the 
judicious  use  of  fertilizers  or  manure  is  usually  profitable.  The 
fertilizer  problem  is  made  difficult,  however,  by  the  fact  that  on 
rich  soil  oats  make  a  rank  growth,  which  often  results  in  lodging 
and  in  conditions  favorable  to  rust  and  other  diseases. 

Unless  the  soil  is  very  low  in  fertility  the  direct  application  of 
barnyard  manure  to  the  crop  is  seldom  advisable.  Much  more 
satisfactory  results  can  usually  be  secured  by  applying  the  manure 
previous  to  growing  some  other  crop  in  the  rotation,  such  as  corn. 
The  oats  will  then  get  the  benefit  of  a  part  of  the  manure  and  of 
the  added  humus  in  the  soil,  with  less  danger  that 'a  rank  growth  of 
straw  will  be  made  at  the  expense  of  grain  production.  On  very 
poor  soil  the  application  of  a  few  loads  of  well-rotted  manure  some 
time  previous  to  sowing  oats  can  be  made  to  advantage.  The  manure 
should  be  applied  as  evenly  as  possible  and  should  be  well  worked 

“Bulletin  79,  South  Dakota  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 

424 


8 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


into  the  soil.  Under  these  conditions  the  use  of  a  small  quantity  of 
raw  rock  phosphate  with  the  manure  is  usually  advisable. 

Of  the  three  fertilizing  elements  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  potash, 
phosphorus  is  most  often  the  one  which  is  not  present  in  sufficient 
quantities  for  the  best  production  of  oats.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  certain  types  of  prairie  soils  of  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley,  where 
a  large  portion  of  the  oat  crop  is  grown.  In  a  2-year  rotation  of  corn 
and  oats  at  the  Illinois  station  in  which  200  pounds  of  bone  meal, 
containing  25  pounds  of  phosphorus,  was  applied  annually,  the 
average  gain  in  yield  of  oats  in  six  years  was  12.2  bushels  to  the 
acre.  This  was  on  the  plats  in  which  a  legume  was  grown  in  the 
corn  and  which  were  limed  before  the  experiment  was  begun.  The 
use  of  phosphorus  without  the  legume  was  less  profitable,  while 
the  addition  of  potassium  to  the  plats  which  were  fertilized  with 
phosphorus  resulted  in  a  lessened  yield  of  both  corn  and  oats. 
Similar  results  were  obtained  in  a  3-year  rotation  of  corn,  oats,  and 
clover. 

The  Ohio  station  is  conducting  a  fertilizer  test  at  Wooster  and  at 
Strongsville  on  a  5-year  rotation  of  corn,  oats,  wheat,  and  two  years 
of  hay  crops.  Professor  Thorne  a  says  of  this  experiment: 

The  highest  net  profit,  considering  the  oat  crop  alone,  is  found  in  a  13-year  test  at 
Wooster  on  the  plat  receiving  a  complete  fertilizer  relatively  low  in  nitrogen  and  high 
in  phosphorus;  the  plat  receiving  phosphorus  only  coming  next  and  closely  followed 
by  that  receiving  both  phosphorus  and  potassium.  In  ten  years’ results  at  Strongs¬ 
ville,  the  only  decided  profit  is  found  on  the  plat  receiving  phosphorus  only,  although 
the  increase  has  more  than  paid  for  the  cost  of  the  fertilizer  on  the  plats  receiving 
phosphorus  and  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and  potassium,  and  phosphorus,  potassium, 
and  a  small  amount  of  nitrogen. 

The  greatest  net  profit  for  the  entire  rotation  for  ten  years  at 
Wooster  was  from  the  plat  receiving  the  complete  fertilizer,  while 
that  receiving  phosphorus  and  nitrogen  returned  a  slightly  smaller 
profit.  At  Strongsville  by  far  the  largest  gain  was  from  the  plat 
receiving  phosphorus  only;  the  plat  receiving  phosphorus  and 
potassium  ranked  second  in  net  gain. 

The  experiments  just  cited,  and  others  which  might  be  mentioned, 
show  that  phosphorus  is  usually  the  most  important  addition  which 
can  be  made  to  the  soil  for  the  production  of  oats,  but  small  quantities 
of  nitrogenous  fertilizer  can  often  be  used  to  advantage.  The  oat 
crop  makes  most  of  its  growth  early  in  the  season,  when  the  weather 
is  cool  and  before  much  of  the  nitrogen  in  the  soil  becomes  available 
for  plant  food.  For  this  reason  the  application  of  a  small  quantity 
of  nitrogen  in  a  readily  available  form,  as  nitrate  of  soda,  will  hasten 
its  growth  and  result  in  materially  increased  yields. 


424 


“Bulletin  182,  Ohio  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


9 


Potash  can  usually  be  added  to  better  advantage  when  applied  to 
some  other  crop  in  the  rotation,  as  corn  or  wheat.  This  element  of 
fertility  is  usually  present  in  large  quantities  in  clay  soils,  but  is 
often  a  valuable  addition  to  sandy  or  gravelly  ones.  The  loss  from 
the  application  of  potassium  in  the  Illinois  experiments  just  cited 
was  probably  due  to  an  excess  of  that  element  in  the  soil,  while  in 
the  Ohio  tests  the  quantity  applied  was  much  larger  than  would 
ordinarily  be  used  by  the  farmer.  The  application  of  10  to  20 
pounds  of  actual  potash  to  the  acre  annually  is  usually  sufficient  on 
loam  and  clay  soils,  but  on  soils  that  are  known  to  be  exceptionally 
rich  in  this  material  its  use  is  unnecessary. 

A  good  fertilizer  for  oats  on  the  heavier  loam  and  clay  soils  is  one 
containing  50  pounds  of  nitrate  of  soda  and  150  pounds  of  acid 
phosphate,  applied  at  the  rate  of  200  pounds  to  the  acre.  On  sandy 
and  gravelly  soils  the  addition  of  20  to  40  pounds  of  muriate  of 
potash  to  this  combination  is  usually  beneficial.  The  exact  quantity 
to  be  applied  and  the  proportion  of  the  different  fertilizing  elements 
depend  largely  on  the  nature  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  The 
straw  of  grain  crops  may  be  strengthened  by  the  use  of  fertilizers 
containing  potash  and  phosphorus,  and  in  this  way  lodging  may 
sometimes  be  prevented.  Lodging  in  the  principal  oat-growing 
sections,  however,  is  due  oftener  to  the  blowing  over  of  the  whole 
plant  by  heavy  winds  when  the  ground  is  soft  from  excessive  rains 
than  to  actual  weakness  of  the  straw. 

When  the  crop  is  desired  for  forage  rather  than  for  grain,  the  use 
of  barnyard  manure  or  fertilizers  rich  in  nitrogen  is  often  advisable, 
as  nitrogenous  fertilizers  induce  the  rank  growth  necessary  for  the 
production  of  large  yields  of  forage. 

LIMING. 

Liming  alone  is  not  likely  to  increase  the  yield  of  oats.  On  very 
sour  soils  or  when  used  in  connection  with  the  plowing  under  of 
green-manure  crops  or  stable  manure,  it  may  have  a  beneficial 
effect.  Where  lime  was  applied  without  manure  at  the  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  station  it  reduced  the  yield  of  oats,  but  where  it  was  applied 
in  connection  with  manure  it  increased  the  beneficial  effect  of  the 
manure.  This  was  in  a  4-year  rotation  of  corn,  oats,  wheat,  and 
clover  and  timothy.  The  lime  was  applied  at  the  rate  of  2  tons  to 
the  acre  previous  to  planting  the  corn  crop. 

While  the  application  of  lime  or  fertilizers  to  oats  may  not  be 
directly  profitable,  the  increased  }rields  from  succeeding  crops  may 
often  more  than  make  up  the  deficiency.  This  is  particularly  true 
when  clover  or  a  grass  crop  is  to  follow  the  oats. 

61822°— Bull.  424—10 - 2 


10 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


OATS  IN  THE  ROTATION. 

PLACE  IN  THE  ROTATION. 

Among  the  factors  which  determine  the  place  of  the  oat  crop  in  the 
rotation  are  the  effect  of  the  preceding  crop  on  the  growth  of  the  oats 
and  the  effect  of  the  oats  on  the  following  crop.  Ordinarily  oats  are 
not  grown  after  a  grass  or  clover  crop,  a  cultivated  crop  being  used 
to  subdue  the  sod.  In  sections  where  virgin  soil  is  being  brought 
under  cultivation  oats  are  usually  grown  on  “old  land,”  wheat  and 
flax  being  the  crops  which  are  ordinarily  grown  on  sod  land  if  a  cul¬ 
tivated  crop  such  as  corn  or  one  of  the  sorghums  is  not  used.  When 
grown  on  sod  land,  especially  where  the  sod  consists  wholly  or  in 
part  of  clover  or  alfalfa,  oats  are  inclined  to  grow  rank  and  lodge. 
Where  there  is  less  trouble  from  lodging,  as  in  some  of  the  irrigated 
sections  of  the  West,  oats  may  follow  clover  or  alfalfa. 

At  the  South  Dakota  station,  in  a  3-year  rotation  including  corn, 
oats,  and  wheat,  little  difference  was  noted  between  an  oat  crop 
following  wheat  and  one  following  corn.  The  wheat  crop,  how¬ 
ever,  was  materially  better  after  corn  than  after  oats,  so  that  where 
these  three  crops  are  grown  the  best  plan  seems  to  be  to  grow  the 
wheat  after  the  corn,  making  the  rotation  corn,  wheat,  and  oats. 
Similar  results  in  favor  of  this  sequence  over  the  one  in  which  wheat 
follows  oats  have  been  obtained  at  a  number  of  the  experimental 
farms  conducted  by  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  in  the  Great 
Plains  area,  as  reported  in  a  recent  publication.®  Oats  are  less 
influenced  by  the  effect  of  the  preceding  crop  than  are  most  other 
grains,  so  that  where  wheat,  barley,  and  oats  are  the  main  crops  the 
rotation,  if  one  is  practiced,  is  arranged  to  suit  the  other  grains 
rather  than  oats.  Where  corn  or  some  other  cultivated  crop  is 
grown,  oats  usually  follow  the  cultivated  crop  and  are  followed  by 
grass  or  clover,  which  are  usually  sown  with  the  oats. 

COMMON  ROTATIONS  WHICH  INCLUDE  OATS. 

A  common  rotation  in  Iowa  and  Illinois,  and  in  the  surrounding 
States  as  well,  consists  of  corn,  oats,  and  grass  or  clover.  Usually 
this  is  a  5-year  rotation,  two  crops  of  corn  being  grown  in  succession, 
followed  by  oats,  with  grass  and  clover  seeded  with  the  oats;  the 
grass  is  allowed  to  remain  for  two  years,  either  as  meadow  or  pas¬ 
ture,  and  is  then  plowed  up  for  corn.  The  rotation  is  sometimes  short¬ 
ened  to  four  years,  either  two  years  of  corn  and  one  each  of  oats 
and  grass  or  one  year  each  of  corn  and  oats  and  two  years  of  grass. 
The  first  of  these  two  rotations  is  the  common  one  where  clover 
alone  is  used  as  the  hay  crop.  Where  winter  wheat  can  be  grown 

a Bulletin  187,  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Agriculture. 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


11 


it  is  customary  to  use  it  as  a  nurse  crop  for  grass  or  clover.  The 
common  rotation  where  both  oats  and  winter  wheat  are  grown  is 
corn,  oats,  winter  wheat,  and  grass  or  clover  for  one  or  more  years. 
In  Maine  and  in  some  of  the  other  potato-growing  sections  a  com¬ 
mon  rotation  consists  of  potatoes,  oats,  and  clover,  each  one  year. 
In  the  spring-wheat  section,  if  corn  is  grown  the  common  rotation 
is  corn,  wheat,  oats,  and  grass.  In  some  portions  of  the  spring- 
wheat  belt  no  rotation  is  practiced,  particularly  if  corn  and  grass 
are  not  incjuded  among  the  staple  crops.  In  the  South  oats  occupy 
so  small  a  portion  of  the  cultivated  area  that  they  do  not  commonly 
figure  in  the  rotation.  A  good  rotation  in  this  section  which  includes 
oats  consists  of  corn,  with  cowpeas  sown  between  the  rows;  oats, 
followed  by  cowpeas;  and  cotton.  In  the  irrigated  sections  oats  are 
sometimes  grown  in  rotation  with  clover  or  alfalfa. 

CLEARING  THE  LAND  OF  WEEDS. 

As  oats  start  into  growth  early  in  the  season  and  soon  make  a 
dense  shade,  they  are  one  of  the  best  crops  for  clearing  land  of  weeds. 
When  used  for  this  purpose,  they  should  be  sown  rather  more  thickly 
than  on  land  that  is  free  from  weeds.  The  crop  may  be  cut  for  grain 
or  for  hay,  as  desired,  but  it  should  be  harvested  before  many  of  the 
weeds  that  grow  with  it  mature  their  seed.  The  land  may  then  be 
pastured  to  keep  down  the  later  growth,  or  the  weeds  which  develop 
after  the  oats  are  harvested  may  be  cut  with  the  mower  or  plowed 
under  before  they  mature  seed.  If  the  field  is  plowed  it  should  be 
disked  or  harrowed  occasionally  to  destroy  any  weeds  that  start  into 
growth.  If  fall  grain  is  sown  or  if  the  land  is  used  for  a  cultivated 
crop  the  next  season,  it  will  be  practically  free  from  annual  weeds 
by  the  end  of  the  second  year. 

USE  AS  A  NURSE  CROP. 

Oats  are  very  commonly  used  as  a  nurse  crop  for  clover  and  grass, 
and  sometimes,  in  the  irrigated  sections,  for  alfalfa.  While  not 
ideal  for  the  purpose,  as  the  foliage  is  rather  too  dense  and  the  crop 
draws  too  heavily  on  the  soil  moisture,  good  results  are  usually 
obtained.  The  sudden  change  from  dense  shade  to  full  exposure  to 
the  sun  when  the  oats  are  harvested  sometimes  injures  the  young 
clover  and  grass  plants.  In  dry  seasons  oats  may  take  the  moisture 
from  the  soil  so  completely  as  to  check  severely  the,  growth  of  crops 
sown  with  them.  Either  barley  or  wheat  is  more  suitable  for  use  as 
a  nurse  crop,  making  less  shade  and  requiring  less  water.  Where 
oats,  are  used  the  selection  of  small,  early  varieties  is  advisable, 
because  they  grow  less  rank  and  take  less  water  from  the  soil  than 
the  later,  larger-growing  varieties.  They  also  mature  early  enough 

424 


12 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


to  harvest  before  the  hot  weather,  which  is  likely  to  injure  the  young 
grass.  Less  seed  should  be  used  where  oats  are  sown  as  a  nurse  crop 
than  when  sown  for  other  purposes.  Drilling  is  preferable  to  broad¬ 
cast  seeding,  as  the  space  between  the  rows  admits  light  and  air  to 
the  grass  and  clover  plants. 

USE  AS  A  COVER  CROP. 

Oats  are  used  to  some  extent  as  a  cover  crop  in  orchards  in  the 
Northern  States.  They  draw  rather  heavily  on  the  soil  moisture, 
thus  checking  the  growth  of  the  trees  and  causing  the  young  wood 
to  mature  fully  before  cold  weather.  Oats  make  a  dense  cover  and 
thus  protect  the  soil  from  intense  summer  heat.  They  also  furnish 
considerable  winter  protection,  though  the  plants  make  a  close  mat 
on  the  ground  after  heavy  frosts  and  do  not  hold  snow  as  well  as 
some  other  cover  crops.  The  use  of  peas  or  vetch  with  the  oats 
increases  the  value  of  the  cover,  as  these  crops  add  nitrogen  as  well 
as  humus  to  the  soil.  The  proper  dates  and  rates  of  seeding  for  cover 
crops  depend  largely  on  the  locality  and  the  practice  of  the  particular 
fruit  grower  who  uses  them. 

GROWING  IN  MIXTURES  WITH  OTHER  CROPS. 

Oats  are  sometimes  grown  in  combination  with  other  crops  for  the 
production  of  either  hay  or  grain.  In  the  United  States  the  most 
common  combination  of  this  kind  is  oats  and  Canada  field  peas. 
Rape  is  often  sown  with  oats,  to  be  used  as  pasture  for  hogs  or  sheep 
after  the  oats  are  harvested.  In  Canada,  barley  and  oats  are  com¬ 
monly  grown  together  and  other  grains  are  sometimes  included  in 
the  mixture. 

Where  peas  are  grown  with  oats  the  crop  is  used  as  pasture  or  cut 
for  feeding  green  or  for  hay.  A  common  rate  of  seeding  is  1  bushel 
of  peas  and  1J  bushels  of  oats  to  the  acre,  though  an  equal  mixture 
is  often  used,  sowing  from  2  to  3  bushels  to  the  acre.  Where  vetch 
does  well  it  is  sometimes  substituted  for  the  peas.  A  common  propor¬ 
tion  is  2  parts  of  vetch  to  1  of  oats.  The  combination  of  a  legume  with 
oats  for  pasture  and  soiling  purposes  increases  both  the  yield  and  the 
feeding  value  of  the  crop,  while  the  legume  adds  nitrogen  to  the  soil. 

Numerous  experiments  at  the  Ontario  Experimental  Farm  have 
shown  that  better  yields  of  grain  are  obtained  where  barley  and  oats 
are  sown  together  than  where  either  is  sown  alone.  This  combina¬ 
tion  is  a  very  popular  one  in  Ontario  and  its  use  is  increasing.  The 
area  of  mixed  grains,  principally  barley  and  oats,  grown  in  the  Prov¬ 
ince  of  Ontario  in  1908  was  more  than  450,000  acres,  while  barley 
alone  was  grown  on  732,000  acres  and  oats  alone  on  2,774,000  acres. 
It  is  necessary  to  use  a  rather  early  variety  of  oats  when  sowing  with 

424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


13 


barley  in  order  that  the  two  crops  may  ripen  together,  These  com¬ 
bination  crops  are  usually  used  for  feeding  on  the  farms  where 
grown,  and  are  not  readily  marketable  except  as  feed  grain. 

In  an  experiment  at  the  Ontario  Experimental  Farm  to  deter¬ 
mine  the  value  of  various  grain  mixtures,  barley  and  oats  together 
gave  better  yields  than  either  alone  or  in  any  other  combination  of 
oats,  barley,  spring  wheat,  and  peas.  In  another  experiment,  to 
determine  whether  a  mixture  of  1  bushel  of  oats  and  1J  bushels  of 
barley  could  be  improved  by  the  addition  of  a  small  quantity  of 
other  grain,  additions  of  one-half  bushel  of  flax,  eminer,  spring 
wheat,  and  hull-less  barley  were  made  on  different  plats.  A  5-year 
test  showed  that  higher  yields  of  grain  were  obtained  from  the 
barley-and-oats  mixture  without  the  addition  of  any  other  grain. 
Various  proportions  of  barley  and  oats  and  different  rates  of  seeding 
were  tested  at  this  farm  for  six  years  to  determine  which  gave  the 
highest  yield.  It  was  found  that  sowing  1  bushel  each  of  oats  and 
barley  produced  the  largest  yield  of  grain.  Similar  results  were 
obtained  in  a  duplicate  experiment  conducted  in  1907  and  1908, 
although  the  difference  in  yield  of  several  of  the  combinations  was 
slight. 

A  small  quantity  of  rape  seed,  1  to  2  pounds,  is  often  sown  with  oats. 
It  is  good  practice,  however,  to  sow  the  rape  two  or  three  weeks 
after  the  oats  are  sown,  covering  the  seed  by  harrowing  lightly.  If 
sown  at  the  same  time  as  the  oats  it  makes  so  much  growth  that  it 
interferes  with  the  harvesting  of  the  oats.  If  the  oats  are  cut  with 
a  rather  high  stubble  the  rape,  if  the  season  is  favorable,  will  at  once 
start  into  vigorous  growth  and  make  excellent  pasture  for  sheep  and 
hogs.  Sheep,  in  particular,  do  well  on  this  pasture,  as  they  glean 
any  grain  which  may  have  been  left  by  the  binder.  Rape  sown  in 
this  way  may  also  be  cut  for  feeding  green,  or  when  sown  with  the  oats 
or  with  oats  and  peas  the  entire  crop  may  be  cut  green,  thus  furnishing 
a  large  yield  of  succulent  feed. 

PREPARATION  OF  THE  SEED  BED. 

Less  attention  is  ordinarily  given  to  the  preparation  of  the  seed  bed 
for  oats  than  for  any  other  field  crop.  A  common  method  in  the 
corn  belt,  where  the  oat  crop  almost  invariably  follows  corn,  is  to 
sow  the  seed  broadcast  on  corn  land  without  preparation.  This 
method  is  now  less  used  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago,  when  its  preva¬ 
lence  was  well  shown  by  an  inquiry  sent  out  by  the  Iowa  station  in 
1905.  Of  452  farmers  who  replied  to  the  list  of  questions  regarding 
the  preparation  of  the  land  for  oats,  more  than  70  per  cent  neither 
broke  nor  burned  the  cornstalks  before  seeding  to  oats,  only  13  per 
cent  disked  the  ground  before  seeding,  and  a  still  smaller  proportion 

424 


14 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


harrowed  before  seeding.  In  other  words,  nearly  three-fourths  of 
those  who  replied  sowed  their  oats  broadcast  on  cornstalk  land  with¬ 
out  preparation  of  any  kind.  Figure  1  shows  the  end-gate  seeder 
commonly  used  in  broadcast  seeding,  while  figure  2  shows  this 
machine  in  operation  in  a  field  where  the  cornstalks  are  still  standing. 

A  good  seed  bed  can  hardly  be  prepared  with  fewer  than  two  disk- 
ings,  and  usually  at  least  one  harrowing  is  necessary.  Where  oats  are 
to  be  sown  on  corn  land  on  which  the  stalks  are  still  standing  it  is 
good  practice  to  break  the  stalks  before  disking.  This  can  readily  be 
done,  especially  on  a  frosty  morning,  by  dragging  a  heavy  pole  or  iron 

rail  broadside  across 
the  field.  The  stalks 
can  then  be  cut  with 
a  disk  harrow  much 
more  readily  than  if 
left  standing.  Where 
there  is  much  trash  on 
the  land  it  is  some¬ 
times  advisable  to  rake 
and  burn  the  stalks 
and  weeds  before  disk¬ 
ing.  This  is  common 
practice  in  some  sec¬ 
tions.  Ordinarily  this 
humus-making  mate¬ 
rial  should  not  be  de¬ 
stroyed,  but  should  be 
worked  into  the  soil. 
If  the  disks  of  the  disk 
harrow  are  sharp  they 
will  cut  the  stalks  into 
short  pieces,  which 
soon  decay,  and  much 
of  the  trash  will  be 
covered  by  the  disk¬ 
ing  and  harrowing.  Breaking  the  stalks  and  cutting  them  with  a 
stalk  cutter  in  the  fall  hastens  their  decay.  A  disk  harrow  in  opera- 


Fig.  1. — End-gate  seeder  commonly  used  for  the  broadcast  seeding  of 
grain.  The  smaller  hopper  is  for  grass  or  clover  seed.  Power  for 
operating  this  seeder  is  supplied  from  one  of  the  rear  wheels  of  a 
wagon  by  means  of  sprocket  wheels  and  a  chain. 


tion  on  cornstalk  land  is  shown  in  figure  3,  while  figure  4  shows  a 
stalk  cutter  designed  to  cut  two  rows  of  cornstalks. 

It  is  always  advisable  to  sow  oats  as  early  in  the  spring  as  the  land 
can  be  worked,  but  proper  preparation  should  not  be  sacrificed  to 
gain  a  little  time  in  getting  the  seed  into  the  ground.  Oats  do  best 
when  sown  in  a  rather  firm  seed  bed,  with  2  to  3  inches  of  loose,  mellow 
soil  on  the  surface.  This  can  best  be  secured  on  cornstalk  land  by 
breaking  the  stalks,  double-disking  either  by  lapping  half  or  cross 
disking,  and  thorough  harrowing  with  the  spike-tooth  harrow. 


424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


15 


Lapping  half  with  the  disk  harrow  leaves  the  surface  more  nearly 
even  than  when  the  field  is  cross-disked.  The  disks  should  be  set  to 


Fig.  2. — The  end-gate  seeder  shown  in  figure  1  in  operation  in  a  field  of  standing  cornstalks — a  common 

but  not  a  good  method  of  seeding. 

run  3  or  4  inches  deep.  After  the  seed  bed  is  in  good  condition  the 
seed  should  be  sown  and  the  field  again  harrowed. 


Fjg.  3.— Disking  corn  land  preparatory  to  sowing  oats. 


The  land  is 
Spring  plowin 


seldom  plowed  for  oats  which  follow  a  cultivated  crop, 
cr  is  not  usually  profitable,  as  there  is  little  time  to  allow 

to  *•'  A 


424 


16 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


the  subsurface  to  become  compact,  and  the  land  is  rarely  in  proper 
condition  to  plow  before  the  oats  should  be  sown.  Soils  which  are  not 
likely  to  blow  or  run  together  can  sometimes  be  plowed  in  the  fall  to 
advantage,  particularly  if  grass  seed  is  to  be  sown  with  the  oats.  A 
fine,  smooth,  mellow  seed  bed  can  thus  be  prepared.  Fall-plowed 
land  should  be  double-disked  about  3  inches  deep  before  seeding  and 
harrowed  both  before  and  after  seeding. 

At  the  Ohio  station  in  a  6-year  test  in  which  plowing  6  to  7  inches 
deep  was  compared  with  disking  3  or  4  inches  deep,  with  thorough 

subsequent  prepa¬ 
ration  in  both  cases, 
an  average  yield  of 
52.8  bushels  to  the 
acre  was  harvested 
from  the  plowed 
and  48.7  bushels 
from  the  disked 
land,  a  gain  in  fa¬ 
vor  of  plowing  of 
4.1  bushels.  Sow¬ 
ing  on  spring- 
plowed  land  at  the 
Kansas  station  gave 
an  average  yield  for 
five  years  of  27.4  bushels  to  the  acre,  as  compared  with  25.5  bushels 
from  sowing  on  fall-plowed  and  25 „1  bushels  from  sowing  on  un¬ 
plowed  land.  A  moderately  loose  seed  bed  with  a  firm  subsoil,  such 
as  is  ordinarily  produced  by  thorough  disking  and  harrowing,  gave 
better  results  at  the  Illinois  station  than  either  a  very  loose  or  a  firm 
seed  bed. 

PREPARATION  OF  THE  SEED. 


Fig.  4. — Stalk  cutter  designed  to  cut  two  rows  of  cornstalks. 


CLEANING  AND  GRADING. 


Seed  oats  should  be  carefully  screened  and  graded  before  sowing. 
This  work  is  ordinarily  done  with  the  fanning  mill,  the  light  oats  and 
some  of  the  trash  being  taken  out  by  a  current  of  air,  while  the  small 
oats  and  most  of  the  weed  seeds  are  removed  by  means  of  screens. 
The  process  should  take  out  one-third  or  one-fourth  of  the  oats,  but 
if  the  seed  is  very  light  a  much  larger  proportion  should  be  removed 
by  the  fans.  Many  of  the  small,  light  oats  will  not  germinate  at  all, 
while  others  produce  weak  plants,  which  materially  reduce  the  yield. 
Screening  also  greatly  reduces  the  proportion  of  weed  seed,  thus  pre¬ 
venting  the  spread  of  weeds  and  further  favoring  the  growth  of  the 
oat  crop. 

Experimental  tests  of  graded  seed  naturally  fall  into  two  classes, 
one  in  which  the  same  weight  or  measure  of  all  the  different  grades  of 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


17 


seed  is  sown  and  one  in  which  the  same  number  of  seeds  is  sown  on 
the  different  plats.  Most  of  the  tests  belong  to  the  first  class,  in  which 
the  same  rate  of  seeding  by  weight  is  used  for  all  grades.  In  a  test 
of  this  kind  which  was  conducted  for  eight  years  at  the  Kansas 
station,  heavy  seed  gave  an  average  yield  of  30.9  bushels  to  the 
acre,  common  seed  29.9  bushels,  and  light  seed  27.5  bushels.  The 
common  seed  used  was  the  seed  as  it  came  from  the  thrasher,  the 
light  and  heavy  grades  being  obtained  by  running  the  seed  through 
a  fanning  mill.  These  grades  were  usually  taken  from  the  ordinary 
seed,  but  in  the  last  year  of  the  experiment,  when  the  greatest  differ¬ 
ence  was  noted,  the  heavy  seed  was  taken  from  the  heavy  grade  of 
the  previous  year  and  the  light  seed  from  the  light  grade.  In  an 
experiment  conducted  at  the  Ohio  station  for  seven  years  average 
yields  of  46.3,  44.8,  and  42.6  bushels  were  obtained  from  the  heavy, 
common,  and  light  seed.  The  yield  of  straw  and  the  weight  per 
bushel  were  both  slightly  heavier  from  the  heavy  seed  than  from 
either  of  the  other  grades. 

At  the  Ontario  Experimental  Farm  even  more  marked  results  in 
favor  of  large  seed  were  secured,  using  the  same  number  of  grains 
of  each  grade  to  the  acre.  In  a  7-year  test  average  yields  of  62, 
54.1,  and  46.6  bushels  to  the  acre  were  obtained  from  heavy,  medium, 
and  light  seeds,  respectively.  In  a  test  in  which  the  heavy  seed  was 
selected  from  the  heavy  grade  and  the  light  seed  from  the  light  grade 
of  the  previous  year,  the  difference  in  yield  and  in  weight  per  bushel 
in  favor  of  the  heavy  seed  continually  increased.  The  test  was  con¬ 
ducted  for  twelve  years.  The  difference  in  weight  per  bushel  in 
favor  of  the  heavy  seed  in  the  first  4-year  period  was  3.2  pounds,  in 
the  second  period  6  pounds,  and  in  the  third  period  9.5  pounds.  The 
differences  in  yield  per  acre  were  10.4,  15.8,  and  22.4  bushels,  respec¬ 
tively,  for  the  three  periods. 

TREATING  FOR  SMTJT. 

The  yield  of  grain  and  the  quality  of  the  crop  can  also  be  materially 
increased  by  treating  the  seed  for  smut  with  formalin  or  hot  water.® 
An  easy  and  effective  method  of  treatment  is  to  sprinkle  the  seed 
oats  with  a  solution  made  of  1  pound  of  formalin  to  40  gallons  of 
water.  The  seed  should  be  spread  out  on  a  clean  floor,  thoroughly 
sprinkled,  and  shoveled  over  until  all  of  the  grain  is  well  moistened. 
It  should  then  be  covered  with  blankets  or  canvas  and  allowed  to 
stand  for  several  hours.  It  can  then  be  sown  at'  once  or  spread 
out  in  a  clean  place  to  dry.  The  seed  will  run  through  the  drill 
much  more  readily  if  dried  before  seeding.  The  rate  of  seeding 
should  be  somewhat  increased  to  allow  for  the  swelling  of  the  seed. 

a  A  full  description  of  these  methods  of  smut  treatment  is  contained  in  Farmers’ 
Bulletin  250,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Agriculture,  1906. 

61822°— Bull.  424—10 - 3 


18 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


Care  should  be  used  not  to  put  the  treated  seed  into  sacks,  bins,  or 
machinery  in  which  the  smut  spores  have  not  been  killed  by  treat¬ 
ment.  The  cost  of  the  smut  treatment  was  estimated  by  Professor 
Close,  of  the  New  York  State  station,  at  1.4  cents  to  the  bushel. 

SOWING  THE  SEED. 

DATE  OF  SEEDING. 

One  of  the  greatest  essentials  in  growing  oats  is  to  get  the  seed 
into  the  ground  early.  This  crop  grows  best  in  cool  climates  and  in 
cool  weather,  and  is  often  materially  injured  by  a  few  hot  days 
when  it  is  near  maturity.  Frosts  or  even  hard  freezes  after  the  seed 
is  sown  seldom  injure  it,  so  that,  as  a  rule,  oats  should  be  sown  just 
as  soon  as  the  ground  is  in  condition  to  work  in  the  spring.  In 
fact,  a  few  farmers  in  the  Northern  States  are  now  sowing  the  ordi¬ 
nary  spring  varieties  of  oats  in  the  fall,  just  before  the  ground  freezes. 
The  seed  usually  does  not  germinatQ  in  the  fall,  but  begins  growth 
with  the  first  warm  days  of  spring.  The  advantages  claimed  for 
this  practice  are  that  the  fall  seeding  lessens  the  spring  rush  of  work 
and  that  the  seed  gets  an  earlier  start  than  is  possible  with  spring 
seeding.  The  dangers  incident  to  fall  seeding  include  germination 
in  the  fall  and  subsequent  winterkilling,  freezing  after  the  seed  ger¬ 
minates  in  the  spring,  and  injury  from  alternate  freezing  and  thawing 
and  continued  cold,  wet  weather.  While  the  practice  has  not  yet 
been  tested  enough  to  justify  a  statement  of  its  value,  it  seems  to  be 
worthy  of  limited  trial,  particularly  in  the  drier  sections,  where  it  is 
most  likely  to  prove  a  success.  Some  Ohio  and  Indiana  farmers 
have  grown  good  crops  of  oats  from  seed  sown  broadcast  on  the 
snow  in  February,  depending  on  later  freezes  and  thaws  to  cover 
the  seed.  Seeding  in  this  way  can  not  be  generally  recommended, 
as  the  chances  of  loss  are  too  great. 

All  tests  conducted  by  the  experiment  stations  are  favorable  to 
early  spring  seeding  as  compared  with  later  seeding.  In  time-of- 
seeding  tests  conducted  for  five  years  at  the  Illinois  station  the 
earliest  date  gave  the  highest  yield  in  three  of  the  tests,  while  the 
second  and  third  dates,  respectively,  gave  the  highest  yields  in  the 
other  two  tests.  In  these  tests  seeding  was  begun  as  early  as  possi¬ 
ble  in  the  spring  and  continued  at  intervals  of  about  one  week  to 
May  1.  The  best  dates  for  seeding  seemed  to  be  from  March  25  to 
April  8.  Similar  results  in  favor  of  early  seeding  were  obtained  in  a 
5 -year  test  at  the  Kansas  station.  The  highest  yield  was  from  seed- 
mg  about  March  8,  and  there  was  a  material  decrease  in  yield  for 
each  week  of  delay  in  seeding.  Seeding  the  first  week  in  April 
yielded  only  about  half  as  much  as  that  done  early  in  March.  A  later 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


19 


test  at  this  station  showed  better  results  from  sowing  in  the  latter 
part  of  March  than  at  an  earlier  or  a  later  date. 

The  exact  date  of  seeding  naturally  depends  on  the  locality  and  the 
season.  Seeding  of  spring  oats  begins  in  the  South  in  the  latter  part 
of  January  or  early  in  February,  and  in  the  Northern  States  is  not 
completed  until  May.  The  best  date  in  Kansas,  Missouri,  southern 
Illinois,  and  Kentucky  ranges  from  March  10  to  March  25.  For 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  central  and  northern  Illinois,  Iowa, 
and  Nebraska  the  best  date  is  usually  from  March  25  to  April  15, 
though  a  somewhat  later  date  may  sometimes  be  necessary.  In 
the  Northern  States  seeding  during  the  latter  half  of  April  is  advis¬ 
able  whenever  possible,  though  in  favorable  seasons  seeding  before 
the  middle  of  the  month  can  often  be  done  to  advantage,  and  in 
unfavorable  ones,  in  the  extreme  North,  May  seeding  is  necessary. 
In  the  Rocky  Mountain  and  Pacific  States  seeding  is  governed  so 
largely  by  local  conditions  that  no  definite  dates  can  be  given.  In 
some  districts,  owing  to  the  distribution  of  the  rainfall,  late  seeding 
may  be  more  uniformly  successful  than  early  seeding. 

RATE  OF  SEEDING. 

The  rate  of  seeding  depends  on  the  locality,  the  condition  and 
fertility  of  the  soil,  the  method  of  seeding,  and  the  size  of  the  seed. 
As  with  other  crops,  less  seed  is  required  in  dry  than  in  humid  sec¬ 
tions.  Fertile  soils  require  less  seed  than  poor  ones,  as  on  rich  land 
the  plants  grow  larger  and  tiller  more.  More  seed  should  be  sown 
on  weedy  land  or  on  land  not  well  prepared  than  on  clean,  mellow 
soil.  Drilling  requires  less  seed  than  sowing  broadcast.  More 
bushels  of  large-grained  than  of  small-grained  oats  should  be  sown 
on  an  acre.  The  number  of  grains  in  a  measured  bushel  of  oats 
ranges  from  500,000  to  750,000,  according  to  the  variety.  The  large- 
grained  varieties  usually  grow  ranker  and  the  plants  occupy  more 
space  than  the  small-grained  ones,  but  the  difference  in  the  size  of 
the  plants  does  not  equalize  the  difference  in  thickness  of  stand 
caused  by  the  greater  number  of  plants  produced  by  a  bushel  of 
small-grained  oats. 

In  general,  the  rate  of  seeding  in  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley 
ranges  from  8  to  12  pecks  to  the  acre,  but  in  the  drier  sections  of  the 
West  this  rate  is  reduced  by  half.  In  the  irrigated  sections  6  to  8 
pecks  is  the  common  rate.  Where  the  usual  rate  in  broadcast  seeding 
is  12  pecks,  10  pecks  will  be  sufficient  if  the  seed  is  drilled. 

Many  experiments  have  been  conducted  to  determine  the  best 
rate  of  seeding  in  different  localities.  These  experiments  show,  in 
general,  that  tillering  depends  very  largely  on  the  thickness  of  the 
stand  and  that  within  certain  limits  the  plants  on  thinly  seeded 

424 


20 


oats:  growing  the  crop 


plats  will  tiller  sufficiently  to  bring  the  number  of  stalks  up  to  that 
produced  by  thick  seeding.  Thus,  there  is  often  little  difference  in 
the  yield  of  grain  or  straw  harvested  from  widely  differing  rates  of 
seeding.  Sixteen  tests  at  the  Ohio  station,  in  which  oats  were 
seeded  at  rates  varying  from  4  to  1 1  pecks  to  the  acre,  indicated  that 
the  heaviest  seeding  was  most  profitable.  There  was  little  difference, 
however,  in  the  yields  of  seeding  at  the  rates  of  8,  9,  10,  and  11  pecks. 
In  general,  the  weight  of  straw  was  greatest  from  the  lightest  seeding, 
and  the  weight  per  bushel  and  the  yield  of  grain  greatest  from  the 
heaviest  seeding.'  A  9-year  test  at  the  Indiana  station  showed  best 
results  in  drilling  when  the  seed  was  sown  at  the  rate  of  8  pecks, 
though  there  was  little  gain  over  9,  10,  and  11  pecks.  Seeding  at 
the  rate  of  10  pecks  is  recommended  when  ordinary  methods  of 
preparation  and  seeding  are  followed. 

In  a  6-year  test  at  the  Illinois  station,  the  heaviest  yield  of  grain  was 
produced  by  seeding  at  the  rate  of  10  pecks.  At  the  Iowa  station 
slightly  better  yields  were  obtained  from  sowing  a  small-grained, 
early  variety  at  the  rate  of  12  pecks  than  from  6,  8,  or  10  pecks,  but 
materially  increased  yields  were  obtained  from  seeding  a  large¬ 
grained,  later  variety  at  the  12-peck  rate.  In  Nebraska  the  highest 
net  return  from  a  small,  early  variety  was  from  seeding  at  the  rate  of  8 
pecks  when  the  seed  was  drilled  and  at  the  rate  of  10  pecks  when 
the  seed  was  sown  broadcast.  In  a  6-year  test  at  the  Kansas  station 
the  highest  yield  was  obtained  from  the  heaviest  seeding,  16  pecks, 
though  the  increase  over  seeding  at  the  rate  of  10  pecks  little  more  than 
made  up  for  the  extra  seed  required. 

METHOD  OF  SEEDING. 

Two  methods  of  seeding  oats  are  in  common  use,  drilling  and  sow¬ 
ing  broadcast.  The  greater  portion  of  the  oat  crop  is  sown  broadcast 
and  the  seed  covered  with  the  disk  or  smoothing  harrow.  The  ideal 
method  of  seeding  is  one  which  distributes  the  seed  evenly  over  the 
ground  and  covers  it  to  a  uniform  depth  of  about  1  inch.  Neither  of 
these  results  is  obtained  in  broadcast  seeding,  but  both  results  are 
possible  by  drilling.  Less  seed  is  necessary,  the  depth  of  covering  is 
more  nearly  uniform,  the  seed  germinates  more  evenly,  and  the 
growth  throughout  the  season  is  better  when  the  seed  is  drilled. 
A  grain  drill  in  operation  on  well-prepared  land  is  shown  in  figure  5. 

While  some  experiments  show  slightly  better  results  from  broad¬ 
cast  seeding  than  from  drilling,  others  show  a  decided  gain  from 
drilling.  1  he  Illinois  station  compared  drilling  and  broadcast 
seeding  at  Urbana  for  three  years,  sowing  half  of  each  of  their  variety 
plats  in  each  manner.  All  other  conditions  were  the  same,  except 

that  in  one  of  the  three  years  during  which  the  test  was  con- 
424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


21 


ducted  4  bushels  to  the  acre  were  sown  on  the  broadcast  plats  as 
compared  with  3  bushels  on  the  drilled  plats.  The  average  yield  for  all 
plats  for  the  three  years  was  5.3  bushels  to  the  acre  annually  in  favor 
of  drilling.  Similar  tests  for  three  years  at  Dekalb,  Ill.,  gave  an 
average  gam  for  drilling  of  2.7  bushels,  while  two  years’  work  at 
Sibley  showed  a  gain  for  the  drilled  plats  of  3.6  bushels  to  the  acre. 
In  addition  to  the  increased  yield,  the  advantages  of  drilling  were 
stated  to  include  evenness  of  stand,  regularity  of  growth,  uniformity 
of  heading  and  ripening,  and  smaller  quantity  of  seed  necessary.  It 
was  also  observed  that  clover  was  less  liable  to  injury  when  the  grain 
crop  was  removed  if  sown  with  drilled  oats  than  if  sown  in  broadcasted 
oats. 


Fig.  5. — Grain  drill  in  operation  on  well-prepared  ground. 

In  a  7-year  test  at  the  Kansas  station  the  use  of  the  drill  increased 
the  yield  about  4  bushels  to  the  acre,  broadcast  seeding  averaging 
26.24  bushels  and  drilling  30  bushels.  In  a  6-year  test  at  the  Ohio 
station  slightly  better  yields  were  obtained  from  broadcast  seeding 
than  from  drilling  2  inches  deep.  At  this  station,  however,  when 
different  depths  of  drilling  were  compared,  materially  better  yields 
resulted  from  drilling  1  inch  deep  than  from  drilling  at  depths  of 
2,  3,  or  4  inches.  It  is  quite  probable  that  drilling  1  inch  deep  would 
have  given  better  yields  than  sowing  broadcast.  The  Nebraska 
station  obtained  better  yields  from  sowing  broadcast  than  from 
drilling,  though  the  gain  was  but  0.9  bushel,  or  1.5  per  cent,  in  a 
4-year  test.  A  material  increase  was  obtained  from  drilling  at  the 
Iowa  station. 


424 


22 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


DEPTH  OF  SEEDING. 

Most  of  the  experiments  favor  shallow  seeding.  At  the  Ohio 
station  the  average  of  two  years’  results  showed  a  yield  of  3.56 
bushels  to  the  acre  greater  for  the  1-inch  than  for  the  2-inch  depth, 
and  7.73  bushels  to  the  acre  greater  for  the  1-inch  than  for  the  3-inch 
or  the  4-inch  depth.  Covering  only  1  inch  deep  gave  better  results  at 
the  Illinois  station  than  sowing  at  greater  depths.  At  the  Nortli 
Dakota  station  in  1898  slightly  heavier  yields  on  the  average  were 
obtained  from  the  deeper  seedings,  though  the  largest  yield  of  all 
was  from  the  shallowest  seeding,  1  inch. 

If  the  seed  is  sown  broadcast  it  should  be  covered  by  a  shallow 
disking  or  thorough  harrowing.  Usually,  if  the  field  has  been  double- 
disked  and  harrowed  and  is  in  good  condition  before  seeding,  har¬ 
rowing  twice  will  cover  the  seed  sufficiently.  At  best,  however,  it 
is  impossible  in  broadcast  seeding  to  cover  all  the  seed  to  the  same 
depth;  some  seed  is  left  on  the  surface  and  does  not  germinate  at  all, 
while  a  small  portion  is  covered  so  deep  that  its  germination  is  consid¬ 
erably  delayed. 

TREATMENT  AFTER  SEEDING. 

The  yield  of  oats  can  sometimes  be  increased  by  treatment  after 
the  crop  is  sown.  The  most  common  methods  for  thus  increasing  the 
yield  include  cultivation,  spraying  to  kill  weeds,  and  irrigation. 


CULTIVATION. 

On  loose  soil  rolling  can  sometimes  be  done  to  advantage  after  the 
seed  is  sown.  The  Wisconsin  station  found  that  the  temperature  of 
rolled  soils  was  higher  than  that  of  soils  not  rolled.  For  this  reason 
germination  and  early  growth  can  sometimes  be  hastened  by  rolling. 
On  soils  which  are  inclined  to  pack  and  bake  the  roller  should  be  used 
with  caution,  as  its  use  is  likely  to  increase  this  tendency.  A  light 
harrowing  after  rolling,  to  break  the  crust  and  hold  the  soil  moisture, 
is  beneficial. 

On  land  which  lias  been  plowed  in  the  spring  or  which  for  some 
other  reason  is  loose  and  open  the  use  of  the  roller  or  the  subsurface 
packer  may  sometimes  increase  the  yield  of  oats.  At  the  Canadian 
Experimental  Farm  at  Lacombe,  Alberta,  on  a  soil  of  loose  texture 
containing  considerable  humus,  the  use  of  the  packer  after  seeding 
increased  the  yield  in  1908  and  1909  from  69.45  bushels  for  the  un¬ 
packed  to  83.36  bushels  for  the  packed  plats.  In  1908  one  variety 
was  grown,  using  three  rates  of  seeding,  while  in  1909  two  varieties, 
each  at  two  rates  of  seeding,  were  grown. 

Cultivation  of  small  grain,  with  the  harrow  or  weeder  is  seldom 
practiced,  but  experiments  indicate  that  this  work  can  often  be  done 
t°  advantage,  particularly  in  regions  of  light  rainfall.  This  cultiva- 


Oats:  growing  the  crop. 


23 


tion  usually  takes  the  form  of  two  or  three  harrowings  with  the  spike- 
tooth  harrow  or  weeder.  If  the  harrow  is  used,  the  teeth  should  be 
set  rather  slanting,  so  as  not  to  pull  out  the  young  grain.  Cultivation 
with  the  harrow  is  sometimes  of  advantage  on  very  weedy  ground, 
even  where  the  rainfall  is  ample,  as  the  weeds  are  readily  killed  when 
small.  The  harrow  should  be  used,  however,  only  on  drilled  fields 
and  only  after  the  young  grain  is  well  rooted.  Harrowing  at  inter¬ 
vals  of  a  week,  beginning  about  three  weeks  after  the  grain  is  sown 
and  continuing  until  it  begins  to  make  stems,  is  an  efficient  method 
of  checking  weed  growth  and  conserving  moisture  for  the  oat  crop. 
If  grass  or  clover  seed  is  sown  with  the  grain  no  cultivation  should  be 
given. 

Experiments  conducted  at  the  Nebraska  station  indicate  that  har¬ 
rowing  drilled  oats  is  profitable  in  seasons  when  the  rainfall  is  normal 
or  below,  but  injurious  when  it  is  above  normal.  Cultivation  of  grain 
sown  broadcast  resulted  in  a  loss,  even  in  dry  years,  as  a  considerable 
number  of  the  plants  were  pulled  out  by  the  harrow.  The  average 
difference  in  a  7-year  test  in  favor  of  harrowing  grain  in  6-inch  drills 
was  4.8  bushels  to  the  acre.  In  the  four  years  in  which  the  cultivation 
of  drilled  grain  was  compared  with  that  sown  broadcast,  the  average 
increase  from  cultivating  drilled  oats  was  5.3  bushels,  or  9.1  per  cent, 
while  the  loss  from  cultivating  oats  sown  broadcast  was  1.9  bushels, 
or  3.3  per  cent.  The  cultivation  generally  consisted  of  two  or  three 
harrowings  with  a  smoothing  harrow  or  weeder.  The  weeder  was 
preferred  for  this  work,  as  it  did  not  carry  trash  and  was  less  severe 
on  the  young  plants.  The  harrowings  were  done  at  intervals  of  a 
few  days,  usually  from  three  to  five  weeks  after  seeding.  Sowing  the 
oats  in  drills  12  inches  or  more  apart  gave  lower  yields  than  in  drills 
6  inches  apart,  even  though  extra  cultivation  was  given.  A  single 
year’s  test  at  the  Kansas  station  was  unfavorable  to  the  cultivation 
of  drilled  oats. 

Large  weeds  which  develop  with  the  crop,  if  not  too  numerous,  can 
often  be  removed  by  pulling  or  cutting  without  much  injury  to  the 
growing  crop.  The  gain  from  preventing  the  spread  of  the  weeds 
should  more  than  repay  the  necessary  loss  from  trampling  in  removing 
them,  which  will  be  slight,  particularly  in  drilled  oats. 

SPRAYING  TO  KILL  WEEDS. 

Several  of  the  common  weeds  of  grain  fields  can  be  kept  in  check 
by  spraying.  Wild  mustard,  which  is  particularly  prevalent  in  por¬ 
tions  of  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  and  South  Dakota,  is 
readily  destroyed  by  spraying  with  iron-sulphate a  (copperas)  solution, 

a  Detailed  directions  for  spraying  with  iron  sulphate  are  given  in  Bulletin  179, 
Wisconsin  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  and  in  Bulletin  80,  North  Dakota  Agri¬ 
cultural  Experiment  Station. 

424 


24 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


using  75  to  100  pounds  of  granulated  iron  sulphate  to  50  gallons  of 
water.  Copper  sulphate  (blue  vitriol  or  bluestone)  is  also  effective, 
using  12  to  15  pounds  to  50  gallons  of  water.  The  usual  application 
is  50  to  55  gallons  of  the  solution  to  the  acre.  Spraying  can  be  done 
most  effectively  before  the  older  weeds  come  into  blossom,  as  the  pods, 
if  allowed  to  develop,  will  ripen  seed  even  after  the  leaves  are  killed 
by  the  spray.  Spraying  will  not  seriously  injure  the  young  grain  or 
grasses,  while  it  kills  or  materially  checks  the  growth  of  mustard  and 
many  other  weeds.  Clover  and  alfalfa  are  both  rather  severely  injured 
by  the  application  of  any  chemical  that  will  kill  weeds.  The  cost  of 
spraying  with  the  iron-sulphate  solution  is  about  $1.25  to  the  acre. 
Small  patches  may  be  sprayed  with  a  bucket  pump  or  a  knapsack 
sprayer,  but  for  large  fields  a  wagon  fitted  with  a  tank  and  suitable 
nozzles  should  be  used.  These  machines  can  be  purchased  from 
dealers  in  spraying  apparatus.  The  type  of  machine  commonly  used 
for  spraying  potatoes  on  a  large  scale  is  equally  effective  in  spraying 
to  kill  weeds. 

Professor  Bolley,  of  the  North  Dakota  station,  found  the  iron- 
sulphate  solution  effective  in  checking  or  killing  wild  mustard,  rag¬ 
weed,  kinghead,  cocklebur,  corn  cockle,  bindweed,  and  a  number  of 
other  serious  weed  pests  in  the  Red  River  Valley.  Professor  Olive, 
of  the  South  Dakota  station,  states  that  the  weeds  which  were  entirely 
killed  by  the  spray  in  an  experiment  conducted  by  him  included 
mustard,  ragweed,  bindweed,  milkweed,  pigweed,  and  peppergrass. 

CUTTING  BACK  TO  PREVENT  LODGING. 

At  the  Iowa  station  cutting  back  the  plants  to  the  base  of  the 
third  leaf  above  the  ground  when  most  of  the  plants  had  produced 
the  fifth  leaf  caused  the  crop  to  mature  slightly  later,  but  materially 
decreased  the  amount  of  lodging  and  increased  the  yield.  This 
experiment  was  conducted  for  but  one  year,  but  it  is  in  line  with  the 
rather  common  practice  of  pasturing  winter  grain  crops  when  the 
growth  becomes  too  rank  for  the  best  production  of  grain. 

IRRIGATION. a 

Oats  require  rather  more  water  for  their  best  development  than 
wheat,  though  there  is  great  difference  in  the  varieties  of  both  grains 
in  this  respect.  It  is  also  generally  believed  that  oats  require  more 
water  than  barley,  though  some  experiments  indicate  the  contrary. 
Irrigation  ol  oats  is  practiced  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  and  North  Pacific  States,  particularly  in  Montana,  Idaho, 

^  a Farmers’  Bulletin  399,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Agriculture,  1910,  entitled  “Irrigation  of 
Grain,”  describes  (he  methods  of  applying  water  to  grain  crops  and  gives  other  details 
of  irrigation  practice. 

424 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


25 


and  Utah.  The  water  is  ordinarily  applied  at  two  irrigations,  though 
three  or  four  are  frequently  given.  When  two  applications  are  made 
the  first  is  usually  just  before  heading  begins,  while  the  second  and 
much  heavier  one  is  at  the  time  when  the  grain  begins  to  fill.  Opin¬ 
ions  vary  greatly  as  to  the  supply  of  water  needed  by  this  crop.  It 
is  probable  that  15  to  20  inches  is  the  most  profitable  quantity, 
though  where  plenty  of  water  is  available  much  more  is  ordinarily 
applied.  The  quantity  of  water  to  be  applied  depends  upon  the 
nature  of  the  soil.  The  danger,  especially  where  water  is  plentiful, 
is  in  overirrigation. 

The  average  depth  of  water  applied  to  oats  at  the  Wyoming  station 
was  21  inches,  slightly  more  than  was  applied  to  wheat  and  barley. 
The  largest  return  to  the  acre  was  received  at  this  station  when  43.6 
inches  of  water  were  applied,  but  the  largest  return  per  inch  of  water 
applied  was  with  an  application  of  16.6  inches.  This  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  when  one  has  a  large  area  of  land  and  a  small  water 
supply,  the  best  use  of  the  available  supply  will  probably  be  made 
when  a  larger  area  is  irrigated  with  it  than  is  common. 

At  the  Nevada  station  the  largest  acre  yield  of  oats  was  obtained 
from  two  irrigations,  with  a  total  application  of  10.7  inches  of  water. 
An  increase  in  the  number  of  irrigations  and  in  the  depth  of  water 
supplied  decreased  the  yield.  The  largest  yield  to  the  acre-foot  of 
water  was  obtained  from  one  irrigation,  using  7.2  inches  of  water.  The 
Utah  station  found  that  the  maximum  increase  in  the  yield  of  oats 
for  each  additional  inch  of  water  was  reached  at  about  15  inches. 
From  the  results  at  this  station  it  was  computed  that  where  30 
inches  of  water  on  1  acre  would  produce  85  bushels  of  oats  the  same 
quantity  applied  to  2  acres  (15  inches  to  the  acre)  would  produce 
113}  bushels.  The  net  profit  from  this  extension  of  the  irrigated 
area,  however,  is  much  less  than  the  figures  indicate,  owing  to  the 
increased  cost  of  plowing,  seeding,  and  harvesting. 

HARVESTING  THE  CROP. 

CUTTING. 

Oats  are  usually  cut  with  the  grain  binder,  though  in  the  drier 
sections  the  header  is  used,  and  occasionally  the  crop  is  harvested 
with  the  combined  harvester  and  thrasher.  A  binder  in  operation 
in  a  field  of  oats  in  North  Dakota  is  shown  in  figure  6.  When  the 
straw  is  very  short,  owing  to  dry  weather,  or  when  the  crop  is  badly 
lodged,  cutting  with  the  mower  may  be  necessary.  The  grain  may 
then  be  raked  and  put  into  cocks,  which  should  be  well  built  so  as  to 
shed  rain.  The  proper  time  to  cut  oats  is  when  they  are  in  the  hard- 
dough  stage.  If  cut  before  this  time,  the  grain  is  not  well  filled, 

424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


C2G 

shrivels  in  curing,  and  is  light  in  weight.  If  allowed  to  become  fully 
ripe  before  cutting,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  crop  shatters  out 
and  is  lost  in  harvesting,  and  the  danger  of  damage  from  storms  is 
also  increased.  Where  a  large  acreage  is  to  be  harvested  it  is  advis¬ 
able  to  begin  cutting  when  the  grain  is  about  to  pass  out  of  the  milk 


Fig.  6.— Grain  binder  at  work  in  an  oat  field  in  North  Dakota. 

stage,  otherwise  a  considerable  portion  of  the  crop  is  likely  to  become 
too  ripe  before  it  can  be  cut. 

SHOCKING. 

If  the  grain  is  ripe  or  in  the  hard-dough  stage  when  cut  it  may  be 
placed  at  once  in  round  shocks,  which  should  be  capped  to  prevent 
damage  from  rain  and  dew.  The  best  quality  of  grain  can  be 
harvested  under  these  conditions.  If  the  grain  is  green  or  if  the 
bundles  contain  a  considerable  quantity  of  weeds,  they  should  be 
allowed  to  cure  for  a  few  hours  before  shocking,  and  should  then  be 
placed  in  long  shocks,  which  may  or  may  not  be  capped.  Long 
shocks  allow  the  sun  and  air  to  penetrate  much  more  readily  than 
round  ones,  and  are  to  be  preferred  when  the  grain  is  not  well 
cured.  A  common  form  of  long,  uncapped  shock  in  which  most  of 
the  grain  is  exposed  to  the  weather  is  shown  in  figure  7;  a  round, 
capped  shock  in  which  practically  all  the  grain  is  protected  from 
weathering  is  shown  in  figure  8.  Equally  good  protection  is  afforded 
by  capping  the  long  shocks.  Grain  which  is  wet  from  dew  or  rain 
should  be  allowed  to  dry  before  it  is  placed  in  shocks.  In  sections 
where  strong  winds  prevail  during  the  harvest  season  capping  is  not 
advisable,  as  the  caps  blow  off  and  the  grain  in  the  cap  sheaves  is 
injured  by  contact  with  the  ground. 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop 


27 


Fig.  7. — A  long,  uncapped  shock  in  which  practically  all  of  the  grain  is  exposed  to  the  weather. 


Fig.  8.— A  well-built,  round  shock,  capped  to  protect  most  of  the  grain  from  weathering, 
424 


oats;  growing  the  crop. 


28 


STACKING. 

Where  grain  is  stacked  it  is  important  that  the  stacks  be  well  built. 
If  the  stacks  are  so  carelessly  put  up  that  they  will  not  shed  water  the 
o-rain  might  much  better  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  shock.  The  bottom 
of  the  stack  should  be  set  up  from  the  ground  slightly  by  laying 
down  old  rails  or  other  material  to  keep  the  grain  from  coming  in 
contact  with  the  earth.  This  will  prevent  the  absorption  of  moisture 
from  below.  The  shape  of  the  stack  is  less  important  than  the 
manner  in  which  the  bundles  are  laid.  They  should  be  so  placed 
that  only  the  butts  are  exposed,  and  so  that  water  will  readily  run 
off  the  sides  of  the  stack  and  not  penetrate  enough  to  wet  the  grain. 
The  round  form  of  stack  probably  sheds  water  better  than  the  long 
ricks  sometimes  constructed.  If  the  rick  is  built  the  top  should  be 
covered  with  straw  or  wild  hay  to  keep  out  water. 

SHOCK  VERSUS  STACK  THRASHING. 

Whether  oats  are  to  be  stacked  or  allowed  to  remain  in  the  shock 
until  they  are  thrashed  depends  very  largely  on  local  conditions.  If 
there  is  a  reasonable  certainty  that  a  thrashing  outfit  will  be  avail¬ 
able  after  the  grain  has  had  time  to  cure  in  the  shock  but  before  it  is 
exposed  unnecessarily  to  weathering,  the  relative  cost  of  shock  and 
stack  thrashing  is  the  point  on  which  the  decision  must  be  made. 
According  to  investigations  conducted  by  the  Minnesota  station  in 
cooperation  with  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Department  of  Agri¬ 
culture,  the  labor  cost  of  thrashing  from  the  shock  in  southern  Minne¬ 
sota  was  4.3  cents  to  the  bushel,  while  that  of  stack  thrashing  was 
5.2  cents.  In  northwestern  Minnesota  the  relative  labor  cost  of  the 
two  operations  was  3.6  cents  and  4.9  cents.  It  is  probably  safe  to 
assume  that  stacking  adds  about  1  cent  a  bushel  to  the  cost  of  pro¬ 
ducing  oats. 

In  the  report  of  the  investigations  just  mentioned  the  relative 
merits  of  shock  and  stack  thrashing  are  thus  compared : 

The  possibility  of  improving  the  grade  of  grain  enough  to  pay  the  additional  cost  of 
stacking  and  stack  thrashing  depends  in  any  locality  upon  the  availability  of  machines, 
the  availability  of  labor,  and  the  climatic  conditions  prevailing  at  harvest.  Intelli¬ 
gent  stacking  of  grain  during  a  majority  of  Minnesota  harvests  is  cheap  insurance 
against  bleached,  sprouted,  and  bin-burnt  grain.  If  the  weather  is  favorable  and  a 
machine  can  be  put  in  the  field  as  soon  as  the  grain  is  fit  to  thrash,  a  slight  saving  will 
be  made  as  compared  with  stacking  and  stack  thrashing.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
shocks  must  weather  for  several  days  or,  in  some  cases,  for  several  weeks  before  a 
machine  can  be  obtained,  the  loss  in  grade  is  considerable  and  stacking  the  grain  would 
have  been  profitable. 

rhe  conclusion  reached  in  this  report  is  that  on  the  ordinary  small 
farm  in  Minnesota  stacking  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  better  practice. 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


29 


In  general,  conditions  during  harvest  in  the  greater  portion  of  the 
oat-growing  sections  are  similar  to  those  in  Minnesota,  and  on  small 
farms  stacking  oats  is  generally  to  be  recommended.  On  the  larger 
farms  of  the  West  where  there  is  less  danger  from  rains  and  where  a 
thrashing  machine  is  available  at  the  time  the  grain  is  ready  to 
thrash,  shock  thrashing  will  no  doubt  continue  to  be  the  general 
practice. 

THRASHING. 

The  grain  should  be  thoroughly  dry  when  it  is  thrashed,  as  it  not 
only  thrashes  better  but  there  is  danger  that  both  the  grain  and  the 
straw  will  heat  and  mold  if  thrashed  when  damp.  It  is  important 
to  see  that  the  thrashing  machine  is  thoroughly  cleaned  before 
thrashing  is  begun.  This  will  not  only  prevent  mixing  the  grain 
with  that  from  a  neighboring  farm,  but  will  also  check  the  spread  of 
weeds  which  may  be  carried  from  place  to  place  in  the  separator. 
The  operation  of  the  machine  should  be  carefully  watched  to  see  that 
all  the  grain  is  removed  from  the  straw  and  that  the  separation  of  the 
grain  from  the  chaff  and  dirt  is  as  complete  as  possible.  The  con¬ 
caves  should  be  so  set  that  they  will  remove  all  the  grain,  but  not  so 
close  that  they  will  hull  it.  The  straw  should  be  carefully  stacked,  so 
that  it  will  be  injured  as  little  as  possible  by  rains.  If  there  is 
available  room,  running  the  straw  into  the  barn  is  both  economical 
and  convenient. 

STORING  THE  GRAIN. 

Oats,  like  other  grains,  should  be  stored  in  bins  that  are  protected 
from  the  weather  and  well  set  up  from  the  ground,  so  that  the  grain 
will  not  absorb  moisture.  The  grain  should  be  dry  when  it  is  put  in 
the  bin  and  should  be  kept  dry,  as  otherwise  there  is  considerable 
danger  that  it  will  become  musty  and  discolored.  Mustiness  not  only 
lowers  the  feeding  value  of  oats,  but  may  make  them  dangerous  to 
the  health  of  the  animals.  It  is  important  that  the  bins  be  so  con¬ 
structed  that  they  may  be  kept  free  from  vermin  and  so  that  the 
grain  can  be  easily  handled.  Placing  the  bin  as  near  as  possible  to 
where  the  oats  are  to  be  used  is  desirable.  An  apparatus  for  elevat¬ 
ing  the  grain  into  the  bin  is  shown  in  figure  9.  In  sections  where 
grain  weevils  and  other  insects  seriously  affect  stored  grain,  the  build¬ 
ing  of  tight  bins  which  can  be  fumigated  is  sometimes  necessary. 

YIELDS. 

In  the  United  States  the  highest  yields  of  oats  are  harvested  in  the 
North  Pacific  and  Rocky  Mountain  regions  where  the  crop  is  irri¬ 
gated  or  the  rainfall  is  heavy.  Under  irrigation  the  production  of 
100  to  125  bushels  to  the  acre  is  not  uncommon,  while  vields  of  150 

424 


30 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


to  175  bushels  are  sometimes  reported.  The  average  yield  of  the 
United  States  for  the  ten  years  from  1900  to  1909,  as  reported  by  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  has  been 
slightly  less  than  30  bushels.  New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Min¬ 
nesota,  and  North  and  South  Dakota  ordinarily  report  average 
yields  of  32  to  37  bushels.  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Iowa,  and  Nebraska  usually  average  rather  lower,  from  27  to  35 
bushels,  while  the  lowest  figures  of  all  are  obtained  in  the  Southern 
States,  where  the  average  production  ranges  from  12  to  20  bushels 
to  the  acre.  Individual  farmers  in  all  these  States  harvest  much 
better  yields  than  the  figures  just  given.  In  several  of  the  States 
where  irrigation  is  practiced  the  average  yield  is  more  than  40  bushels 


Fig.  9.— Apparatus  for  elevating  grain  from  the  wagon  to  the  bin. 

to  the  acre.  In  comparison  with  the  average  yield  of  the  United 
States  of  about  30  bushels  to  the  acre,  the  average  yield  of  oats  in 
Germany  is  about  50  bushels,  in  the  United  Kingdom  45  bushels,  in 
France  28  bushels,  and  in  Russia  20  bushels.  The  cool,  moist  climate 
of  Germany  and  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  particularly  well  adapted  to 
the  production  of  high  yields  of  oats,  which  are  further  increased  by 
the  good  methods  of  cultivation  practiced. 

COST  OF  PRODUCTION. 

Estimates  of  the  cost  of  producing  an  acre  or  a  bushel  of  oats 
vary  greatly.  Much  depends  on  the  labor  used  in  preparing  the 
land  for  seeding,  the  yield  produced,  the  cost  of  thrashing,  and  the 
rent  or  interest  charges  on  the  land.  Professor  Hume,  of  the  Illinois 

424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


31 


College  of  Agriculture,  estimated  the  cost  of  producing  33  bushels  of 
oats  to  the  acre  in  central  Illinois,  in  the  cheapest  possible  manner, 
at  $5.45,  or  16  cents  a  bushel,  land  rental  not  included.  The  cost 
of  producing  oats  in  three  different  sections  of  Minnesota  was  re¬ 
ported  by  the  Minnesota  station  as  $9.84,  $8.83,  and  $6.31  to  the 
acre,  respectively,  with  land  rental  included.  Owing  to  the  differ¬ 
ence  in  yield  the  cost  of  producing  a  bushel  of  oats  in  these  three 
sections  was  practically  the  same,  21  cents.  The  cost  of  producing 
a  bushel  of  oats  at  Ottawa,  Canada,  was  estimated  in  1903  at  21.7 
cents.  The  acre  cost  of  production  under  irrigation  is  much  greater 
than  where  there  is  no  irrigation,  but  the  cost  per  bushel  is  not 
materially  increased,  owing  to  the  greater  yields.  Farm  estimates 
of  the  cost  of  production  are  usually  lower  than  the  figures  just 
given,  as  farmers  often  fail  to  take  into  account  the  depreciation  in 
value  of  the  farm  machinery  and  other  items  which  are  properly 
chargeable  to  the  crop. 

The  ordinary  cost  of  producing  33  bushels  of  oats  to  the  acre  in 
Illinois,  with  the  land  rental  included,  according  to  Professor  Hume, 
is  $11.84.  At  26  cents,  the  prevailing  price  per  bushel  in  Illinois  at 
the  time  this  estimate  was  made,  this  crop  would  sell  for  $8.52  an 
acre,  or  at  a  loss  to  the  farmer  of  $3.32,  while  a  crop  of  100  bushels, 
which  cost  $20.21  to  produce,  would  sell  for  $26,  or  a  profit  of 
$5.79.  At  38  cents,  the  average  price  in  Illinois  in  December,  1909, 
the  33-bushel  crop  would  return  a  small  profit,  while  the  100-bushel 
crop  would  return  a  liberal  one,  at  least  $15  to  the  acre,  allowing 
for  a  slight  increase  in  the  cost  of  production.  At  26  cents,  the  aver¬ 
age  farm  price  in  Minnesota  for  1904,  1905,  and  1906,  when  the  esti¬ 
mates  of  cost  of  production  in  that  State  were  made,  the  net  profit 
in  the  three  sections  was  $2.38,  $2.35,  and  $1.36  per  acre,  respec¬ 
tively.  The  narrow  margin  of  profit  shown  in  all  these  figures 
indicates  the  necessity  for  increasing  the  acre  yield  of  oats  if  the 
crop  is  to  be  grown  at  a  profit. 

VARIETIES  ADAPTED  TO  DIFFERENT  SECTIONS  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES. 

GENERAL  STATEMENT. 

Varieties  of  oats  may  differ  in  the  size,  shape,  or  color  of  the  grain,  in 
the  length  of  time  they  require  from  seeding  to  maturity,  in  the  shape 
and  size  of  the  panicle,  in  the  yield  of  grain  or  of  straw,  and  in  the 
time  when  they  may  be  sown.  The  grain  may  be  large,  medium,  or 
small ;  it  may  be  long  and  slender  or  short  and  plump ;  the  color  may 
be  white,  yellow,  black,  gray,  or  brownish-red.  The  grains  of  four 
varieties  of  oats  which  differ  in  size,  shape,  and  color  are  shown  in 
figure  10.  The  difference  in  the  time  necessary  to  reach  maturity 

424 


32 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


for  different  varieties  at  any  given  place  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five 
days;  all  varieties  mature  more  quickly  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
United  States  than  in  the  northern  part.  In  the  southern  and 
central  portions  of  the  country  the  earliest  varieties  may  mature  in 
eighty-five  to  ninety  days;  in  the  cooler  climate  of  the  north  the 
later  varieties  may  require  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  one 
hundred  and  forty  days.  The  panicle  may  be  open  and  spreading, 
or  closed  and  turned  to  one  side  (side  oats),  or  it  may  be  anywhere 
between  the  two  extremes.  Heads  of  both  side  and  spreading  oats 
are  shown  in  figure  11.  Two  varieties  which  are  very  similar  in 
appearance  may  differ  widely  in  yield  of  grain  or  of  straw.  Most 


Fig.  10.— Grains  of  four  varieties  of  oats  which  differ  in  shape,  size,  and  color.  A ,  Sixty-Day,  with  medium¬ 
sized,  slender,  yellow  grain;  B,  Red  Rustproof,  with  large,  plump,  reddish-brown  grain;  C,  North  Fin¬ 
nish  Black,  with  medium-sized,  moderately  plump,  black  grain;  D,  Swedish  Select,  with  large,  plump, 
white  grain. 

of  the  varieties  grown  in  the  United  States  are  adapted  to  spring 
seeding,  but  a  few,  like  Winter  Turf,  are  sown  in  the  fall  in  the 
Southern  States,  while  others,  like  Red  Rustproof,  may  be  sown 
either  in  the  fall  or  the  spring. 

The  number  of  varieties  of  oats  grown  in  the  United  States  is  very 
large,  though  the  number  well  adapted  to  the  conditions  in  any 
particular  section  is  comparatively  small.  Several  hundred  varietal 
names  are  to  be  found  in  the  catalogues  of  American  seedsmen,  but 
in  many  instances  different  names  are  applied  to  the  same  variety 
by  different  seedsmen  or  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  A 
good  example  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  Winter  Turf  oat,  which 
is  variously  known  as  Gray  Winter,  Virginia  Gray,  Turf,  Grazing, 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


33 


Virginia  Winter ,  and  Winter  Turf,  while  several  similar  names  are 
less  commonly  applied  to  it.  Every  year  new  varieties  of  oats  are 
offered  by  seedsmen,  while  other  names  are  omitted  from  their  lists, 


Fig.  11. — Two  types  of  oat  heads:  Spreading,  or  panieled,  oats  (on  the  left)  and  side,  or  horse-mane,  oats 

(on  the  right). 

and  varieties  which  may  have  been  common  in  some  sections  ten 
or  fifteen  years  ago  have  now  almost  entirely  disappeared  from 
cultivation. 


424 


34 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


No  definite  lines  can  be  drawn  between  the  belts  where  certain 
varieties  or  types  of  oats  succeed  and  others  fail.  Local  conditions 
of  soil,  climate,  altitude,  and  latitude  materially  influence  the  adapta¬ 
tion  of  varieties,  and  there  is  naturally  considerable  overlapping 
along  the  borders  of  the  belts.  Figure  12  shows  approximately  the 
areas  to  which  certain  types  or  varieties  are  adapted.  The  unshaded 
portion,  comprising  the  entire  northern  portion  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  large  part  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  section,  is  generally  suitable 
for  the  production  of  the  large-grained,  medium  to  late  maturing 
varieties.  Those  which  are  usually  grown  are  white  in  color,  as  Clydes¬ 
dale,  Big  Four,  Swedish  Select,  Lincoln,  White  Russian,  and  Tar¬ 
tarian.  The  two  varieties  last  mentioned  are  side  oats,  a  class  which 


Fig.  12.  Map  of  the  United  States,  showing  approximately  the  areas  to  which  certain  types  of  oats  are 
adapted.  In  the  unshaded  portion  rather  late  maturing,  large-grained  white  oats  are  usually  best;  in 
the  lightly  shaded  portion  early,  small-grained,  yellow  varieties  are  most  important;  while  in  the  heavily 
shaded  portion  brownish-red  or  gray  varieties,  which  in  the  warmer  sections  are  sown  in  the  fall,  are 
most  certain  to  succeed. 


can  be  grown  with  profit  only  in  this  section.  Black  or  yellow  varie¬ 
ties  are  occasionally  grown,  while  on  the  dry  farms  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  States  early  oats  like  the  Sixty-Day  and  the  Kherson  are 
frequentty  sown.  In  the  region  shown  as  the  lightly  shaded  portion 
of  the  map,  largely  confined  to  the  Missouri  and  central  Mississippi 
valleys  and  including  practically  all  the  Great  Plains  region,  small- 
grained,  early,  yellow  varieties,  like  the  Sixty-Day  and  the  Kherson, 
are  best  adapted.  In  the  southern  portion  of  this  area  two  early 
varieties  which  are  also  adapted  to  the  southern  belt,  the  Burt,  with 
light-brown  grains,  and  the  Red  Rustproof,  which  is  reddish-brown  in 
color,  succeed  equally  as  well  as  the  Sixty-Day  and  the  Kherson, 

424 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


35 


while  in  the  northern  portion  the  later,  white  varieties  adapted  to  the 
northern  belt  succeed  in  favorable  seasons.  In  the  entire  southern 
portion  of  the  country,  which  is  heavily  shaded  on  the  map,  the  varie¬ 
ties  which  do  best  when  sown  in  the  spring  are  the  Burt  and  the  Red 
Rustproof.  For  fall  seeding  the  Winter  Turf,  a  hardy,  medium-sized, 
gray  oat,  and  in  the  warmer  portions  of  the  area  the  Red  Rustproof 
are  the  varieties  which  are  usually  used. 

The  best  basis  for  recommendations  as  to  varieties  for  any  given 
section  is  furnished  by  the  variety  trials  conducted  by  the  agricul¬ 
tural  experiment  stations,  but  these  can  not  always  be  taken  as  a 
guide,  as  varieties  which  do  well  on  the  type  of  soil  represented  by  the 
station  may  not  succeed  on  some  other  type  of  soil  in  the  same  State. 
The  varieties  mentioned  in  the  following  paragraphs  are  those  which 
have  done  particularly  well  in  the  station  tests  or  which  are  in 
common  cultivation  in  the  particular  section  under  discussion. 
Other  varieties  might  generally  be  mentioned  which  under  some  con¬ 
ditions  would  succeed  as  well  as  or  better  than  those  which  are  dis¬ 
cussed. 

NEW  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  YORK. 

The  type  of  oats  commonly  grown  in  the  Northeastern  States  is 
medium  to  late  in  maturing,  with  large,  usually  rather  short  and 
plump,  white  grain.  The  varieties  commonly  offered  by  seedsmen  in 
this  section  are  Clydesdale,  Probsteier,  Welcome,  Canadian  Cluster, 
American  Banner,  White  Tartar,  and  Swedish  Select,  or,  as  it  is  incor¬ 
rectly  called,  Washington  or  Swedish.  Little  work  in  variety  testing 
has  been  reported  by  the  experiment  stations  in  this  section. 

PENNSYLVANIA,  NEW  JERSEY,  DELAWARE,  AND  MARYLAND. 

The  conditions  in  the  States  of  this  group  are  so  diverse  that  general 
recommendations  as  to  varieties  are  difficult  to  make.  Most  of  the 
varieties  mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph  are  quite  commonly 
offered  by  Pennsylvania  seedsmen  and  are  adapted  to  the  higher  por¬ 
tions  of  that  State  and  of  New  Jersey  and  Maryland.  The  leading 
varieties  of  oats  at  the  Pennsylvania  station  are  Joanette,  Big  Four, 
Japan,  and  Lincoln.  The  Sixty-Day,  an  early  variety,  has  given  ex¬ 
cellent  results  in  the  last  few  years.  The  hardier  winter  oats,  such  as 
Winter  Turf  and  Red  Rustproof,  can  usually  be  grown  with  success  in 
the  lower  portion  of  Maryland.  Where  a  spring  oat  is  desired  for  this 
section  or  for  Delaware  best  results  can  usually  be  obtained  from  early- 
maturing  kinds,  such  as  Sixty-Day,  Burt,  or  Red  Rustproof. 

SOUTH  ATLANTIC  AND  GULF  STATES. 

Wherever  climatic  conditions  will  permit  in  the  South  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  States  it  is  advisable  to  grow  winter  oats  of  the  Winter  Turf 
or  Red  Rustproof  types.  Winter  Turf  is  the  hardier  of  the  two 

424 


36 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


and  is  rather  better  for  pasture  and  for  hay  production,  but  where 
good  yields  of  grain  are  desired  Red  Rustproof  should  be  grown. 
Where  the  growing  of  winter  oats  is  uncertain,  as  in  the  mountainous 
sections,  or  where,  for  other  reasons,  it  is  desired  to  sow  oats  in  the 
spring,  Red  Rustproof,  Culberson,  and  Burt  are  commonly  grown. 
In  some  sections,  particularly  in  portions  of  Tennessee,  the  Burt,  or  as 
it  is  also  known,  the  Ninety-Day  or  May,  is  most  popular.  At  the 
Virginia  station  the'  Silvermine  is  the  leading  variety  in  recent  tests, 
while  the  Culberson  is  the  winter  oat  usually  grown.  At  the  Tennes¬ 
see  station  Kherson  and  Sixty-Day  have  given  good  yields  from  spring 
seeding.  The  Appier  is  a  popular  variety  of  the  Red  Rustproof  type 
in  some  sections,  particularly  in  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

WEST  VIRGINIA  AND  KENTUCKY. 

In  West  Virginia  and  eastern  Kentucky,  on  account  of  the  high 
altitude,  varieties  of  oats  are  grown  that  are  commonly  found  farther 
north.  The  best  varieties  in  a  test  at  the  West  Virginia  station  were 
White  Russian,  Big  Four,  American  Banner,  and  Silvermine.  At 
the  Kentucky  station  Badger  Queen,  American  Triumph,  and 
American  Beauty  were  among  the  leading  kinds.  In  central  and 
western  Kentucky  early  oats  like  Burt,  Sixty-Day,  Red  Rustproof, 
and  Kherson  should  do  well,  while  Winter  Turf  is  grown  as  a  winter 
oat  in  some  sections  and  is  worthy  of  more  extended  trial. 

MICHIGAN,  WISCONSIN,  MINNESOTA,  AND  THE  DAKOTAS. 

As  conditions  are  more  favorable  for  the  production  of  oats  in  the 
States  along  the  northern  border,  a  wider  range  of  varieties  can  be 
grown  with  success  than  in  any  other  section.  In  unfavorable 
seasons,  particularly  in  southern  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  and  in 
South  Dakota,  early  varieties  like  Sixty-Day  and  Kherson  will  make 
the  best  yields,  but  in  more  favorable  years  the  larger,  later  ones  will 
do  best.  In  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  North  Dakota  and  in  the 
Rocky  Mountain  States,  side  oats  like  White  Russian  and  Tartarian 
reach  their  best  development,  but  even  here  they  usually  do  not 
yield  as  well  as  some  of  the  varieties  of  the  open-headed  type.  The 
results  of  variety  trials  at  the  Michigan  station  have  not  been  pub¬ 
lished  in  recent  years,  but  in  general  the  varieties  that  do  well  in 
Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  succeed  in  Michigan.  Sixty-Day,  Kherson, 
Silvermine,  and  American  Banner  are  the  leading  varieties  at  the 
Wisconsin  station  in  recent  years.  Swedish  Select,  the  most  popular 
oat  in  W  isconsin,  has  given  the  highest  yield  at  this  station  for  a 
longer  period.  At  the  Minnesota  station  American  Banner,  Early 
Gothland,  Kherson,  and  Sixtv-Day  have  yielded  best.  The  high 
place  held  by  the  Sixty-Day  and  the  Kherson  oats  in  the  tests  at 
these  two  stations  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  at  least  two  of  the 

424 


oats:  growing  the  crop.  37 

years  covered  by  these  tests  have  been  extremely  unfavorable  to  the 
production  of  late  oats. 

At  Fargo,  N.  Dak.,  in  the  Red  River  Valley,  Sixty-Day,  Tartarian, 
Abundance,  Siberian,  and  Lincoln  have  been  the  leading  varieties, 
while  at  Edgeley  the  best  yields  have  been  harvested  from  Abun¬ 
dance,  Siberian,  Sixty-Day,  and  Silvermine.  Early  Mountain,  Kher¬ 
son,  Tartarian,  and  Banner  Rave  been  the  best  of  the  well-known 
varieties  at  Dickinson,  though  several  kinds  recently  imported  from 
Europe  have  done  well.  At  Williston  the  Silvermine,  Siberian,  and 
Probsteier  have  made  the  best  showing.  At  the  South  Dakota 
stations  Kherson,  Swedish  Select,  and  Sixty-Day  have  been  the 
highest  yielding  varieties. 

OHIO,  INDIANA,  ILLINOIS,  IOWA,  AND  NEBRASKA. 

At  the  Ohio  station  Siberian,  Sixty-Day,  Improved  vYmerican,  and 
Joanette  were  the  leading  varieties  in  a  recent  test.  Big  Four  and 
Silvermine  have  also  given  good  results.  At  the  Indiana  station  the 
leading  varieties  are  Great  Dakota  and  Silvermine.  Early  oats 
usually  yield  best  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Nebraska,  as  late  ones  are 
likely  to  be  severely  injured  by  hot  weather  when  the  grain  is  filling. 
At  these  stations  Sixty-Day  and  Kherson  are  among  the  leading 
kinds.  Burt  and  Red  Rustproof  have  also  done  well  in  Nebraska, 
while  Silvermine  and  Swedish  Select  have  been  good  varieties  in  the 
Iowa  tests,  and  Siberian  is  one  of  the  best  at  the  Illinois  station. 
Silvermine,  Big  Four,  Swedish  Select,  and  other  large,  rather  late, 
white  oats  will  give  good  yields  in  the  northern  parts  of  these  States 
in  favorable  years,  but  in  unfavorable  ones  Sixty-Day  and  Kherson 
will  produce  more  grain.  Early  Champion  is  an  early  oat  which  is 
extensively  grown,  while  Lincoln,  Clydesdale,  and  Green  Russian 
are  also  quite  popular. 

MISSOURI,  KANSAS,  OKLAHOMA,  AND  ARKANSAS. 

Most  of  the  oats  grown  in  these  States  are  of  the  Red  Rustproof 
type.  At  the  Kansas  station  Sixty-Day  and  Kherson  have  given 
equally  as  good  results  as  Red  Rustproof;  at  the  Oklahoma  station 
Red  Rustproof  and  Kherson  have  been  the  leading  varieties.  Variety 
trials  of  oats  have  not  been  reported  recently  from  the  Missouri  and 
Arkansas  stations,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  3  varieties  mentioned 
will  give  as  good  results  in  those  States  as  in  Kansas  and  Oklahoma. 
Winter  oats  can  be  grown  with  a  fair  degree  of  success  in  some  por¬ 
tions  of  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma. 

ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  STATES. 

In  the  Rocky  Mountain  States,  where  oats  are  grown  under  irriga¬ 
tion,  the  large,  late,  white  varieties  give  the  largest  yields  and  are 

424 


38 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


the  most  popular.  On  the  dry  farms  early  kinds,  like  Sixty-Day  and 
Kherson,  usually  make  the  best  showing.  The  Swedish  Select  is  also 
a  good  dry-farm  oat.  At  the  Montana  station,  under  irrigation, 
Progress,  Clydesdale,  Big  Four,  and  Improved  American  are  among 
the  leading  varieties.  Swedish  Select  and  White  Russian  are  also 
grown  on  the  irrigated  farms  of  Montana,  Wyoming,  and  Idaho. 
In  Colorado  Kherson,  Sixty-Day,  and  a  variety  developed  by  the 
experiment  station  and  known  as  Colorado  No.  37  are  popular, 
particularly  on  the  dry  farms.  The  varieties  grown  on  the  irrigated 
farms  are  about  the  same  as  those  grown  in  Montana  and  Wyoming. 

PACIFIC  STATES. 

The  conditions  in  western  Washington  and  Oregon  and  in  the  irri¬ 
gated  sections  of  these  States  and  of  Idaho  are  very  favorable  to  the 
growth  of  oats.  The  highest  yields  are  usually  harvested  from  large, 
white  oats  like  Big  Four,  Improved  American,  and  Swedish  Select. 
Side  oats  are  also  rather  popular.  In  the  dry-land  sections  there  is 
no  better  variety  than  Sixty-Day.  Where  conditions  are  favorable 
for  winter  oats  the  varieties  known  as  Black  Russian  and  Gray  Winter 
(Winter  Turf)  are  grown.  In  California  the  Red  Rustproof,  or,  as  it 
is  commonly  known,  Red,  or  Common  California,  is  usually  grown. 

IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  CROP.a 

EFFECT  OF  THE  SOURCE  OF  SEED  ON  YIELD. 

Thorough  cleaning  of  the  seed  grain  and  sowing  only  that  which 
is  large  and  plump  has  already  been  recommended.  The  procuring  of 
seed  oats  from  distant  localities  more  favorable  to  the  production  of 
the  crop  is  often  advocated,  particularly  in  sections  where  the  grain 
is  of  poor  quality,  or  following  partial  failures.  If  there  is  a  reasonable 
certainty  that  the  seed  thus  obtained  is  of  a  variety  adapted  to  the 
region  where  it  is  to  be  grown,  the  purchase  of  new  seed  from  a 
distance  can  be  made  with  considerable  promise  of  gain.  If,  how¬ 
ever,  the  variety  is  unknown  or  is  likely  to  be  one  not  well  adapted 
to  local  conditions,  the  change  of  seed  should  be  made  with  caution. 
For  instance,  the  large,  late  varieties  of  oats  commonly  grown  in 
Canada  and  in  the  irrigated  districts  are  not  likely  to  give  any  better 
yields  when  sown  in  Iowa  or  Illinois  than  are  the  varieties  commonly 
grown  in  those  States,  even  though  the  seed  of  the  latter  is  of  poor 
quality.  The  Kansas  station  found  that  by  grading  the  seed  each 
year  and  sowing  only  plump,  sound  grain,  the  yield  could  be  increased 
over  that  from  seed  procured  from  other  sections.  At  the  Virginia 

a  A  more  complete  discussion  of  this  subject  is  contained  in  Circular  30,  Bureau  of 
Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Agriculture,  entitled  “The  Improvement  of  the 
Oat  Crop.” 

424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


39 


station,  in  a  very  unfavorable  year,  10  per  cent  more  grain  was 
produced  from  home-grown  seed  than  from  that  of  the  same  varieties 
brought  from  a  distance. 

IMPORTATION  OF  SEED  OATS. 

Most  of  our  best  varieties  of  oats  have  been  brought  from  Europe, 
where  much  more  attention  has  been  given  to  the  improvement  of 
the  crop  than  in  this  country.  The  European  varieties  do  best  here, 
however,  when  grown  under  conditions  similar  to  those  in  the  regions 
where  they  were  developed.  A  good  variety  of  oats  from  Sweden 
can  be  expected  to  give  much  better  results  in  Minnesota  or  Wisconsin 
than  in  Illinois  or  Iowa,  because  the  conditions  are  more  nearly  the 
same,  while  one  from  central  or  southern  Russia  is  most  likely  to 
succeed  in  our  own  Central  States.  Thus,  the  Kherson  and  the 
Sixty-Day  from  southern  Russia  are  proving  of  great  value  in 
Nebraska,  Iowa,  and  Illinois,  while  the  varieties  from  Sweden, 
Germany,  and  northern  Russia  are  doing  best  in  Wisconsin,  Minne¬ 
sota,  and  the  other  Northern  States.  The  importation  of  oats  from 
foreign  countries,  though  it  is  an  interesting  and  valuable  part  of  the 
work  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  experiment  stations, 
can  hardly  be  undertaken  by  the  farmer.  A  comparatively  small 
portion  of  the  varieties  imported  prove  to  be  marked  successes. 

FIELD  SELECTION  OF  SEED. 

In  addition  to  the  mechanical  selection  of  the  large,  heavy  seed  by 
the  fanning  mill  or  similar  means  the  farmer  can  increase  the  yield 
and  the  quality  of  the  oats  he  grows  by  selecting  the  best  heads  or 
the  best  plants  in  the  field.  These  can  be  thrashed  together  and 
sown  in  a  seed  plat  separate  from  the  main  crop,  or  the  individual 
heads  can  be  planted  in  separate  rows  and  used  for  the  development 
of  pedigreed  strains.  While  good  results  can  be  obtained  from 
growing  this  selected  seed  in  bulk,  as  first  mentioned,  the  most 
reliable  method  of  improving  the  quality  and  yield  of  the  oat  crop  is 
by  the  selecting  and  testing  of  strains  developed  from  individual 
plants  or  heads.  Those  which  are  inferior  should  be  discarded  from 
the  first  year’s  test,  and  the  really  superior  ones  increased  and  again 
selected.  The  hybridization  of  oats  is  a  difficult  process,  and  the 
selection  of  the  hybrids  and  their  fixation  as  pure  types  is  a  problem 
which  should  be  left  to  the  professional  plant  breeder.  Much  can  be 
done  in  the  improvement  of  the  crop  through  the  selection  of  the 
best  individual  plants,  however,  to  increase  the  yield  or  the  propor¬ 
tion  of  kernel  to  hull.  This  proportion  is  an  important  consideration, 
as  it  so  materially  affects  both  the  feeding  and  the  milling  values  of 
the  grain. 

424 


40 


oats:  growing  the  crop. 


DISEASES  AFFECTING  OATS. 

THE  SMUTS. 

The  most  common  diseases  of  oats  are  smut  and  rust.  There  are 
two  smuts  of  oats,  both  of  which  destroy  the  grain.  In  the  common, 
or  loose  smut,  all  the  parts  of  the  flower  or  grain,  including  the  chaff, 
are  replaced  by  a  black,  powdery  mass  of  spores.  Heads  of  oats 
affected  by  this  smut  are  shown  in  figure  13.  In  the  less  common 
form,  the  covered  smut,  the  grain  is  destroyed  but  the  smut  spores 
remain  inclosed  in  the  glumes.  The  manner  of  infection  and  growth 
is  the  same  with  both  kinds  of  smut,  as  the  smut  spores  enter  the  grow¬ 
ing  parts  of  the  young  plant  at  germination  and  grow  with  it  until 
they  develop  in  the  head,  turning  all  or  a  part  of  the  grains  into 
masses  of  spores.  Both  the  loose  and  covered  smuts  of  oats  are 
easily  destroyed  by  the  formalin  treatment  described  on  page  17. 
The  loss  from  oat  smut  is  considerable,  being  variously  estimated  at 
from  2  to  10  per  cent  of  the  crop.  Unless  definite  counts  of  smutted 
heads  are  made  the  injury  is  usually  underestimated,  as  the  smutted 
heads  usually  appear  earlier  and  are  shorter  than  those  which  bear 
grain,  so  that  many  are  not  noticed  in  a  casual  inspection  of  a  field. 
At  a  conservative  estimate  of  3  per  cent  the  annual  loss  from  this 
disease  is  about  27,000,000  bushels  of  oats,  which,  at  40  cents  a 
bushel,  are  worth  nearly  $11,000,000. 

THE  RUSTS. 

The  rusts  are  easily  recognized  by  the  appearance  of  irregular, 
roughened  areas  on  the  leaves  and  stems,  which  at  maturity  dis¬ 
charge  large  numbers  of  red  or  black  spores.  The  most  common 
rust  of  oats  is  the  crown  rust,  usually  known  as  the  red  or  leaf  rust, 
though  the  stem  rust  also  commonly  occurs  on  this  grain.  The  crown 
rust  does  not  injure  the  crop  as  seriously  as  the  stem  rust,  which, 
when  it  occurs,  makes  its  appearance  a  few  days  later  than  the  crown 
rust,  and  is  likely  to  do  serious  damage.  These  rusts  take  the  food 
from  the  stems  and  leaves  of  the  oat  plant  that  would  naturally  go 
to  the  development  of  the  grain,  and  as  a  result  the  grain  is  light 
and  shriveled.  No  accurate  estimate  of  the  damage  done  by  the 
rusts  can  be  made,  but  it  is  probably  even  larger  than  that  done  by 
the  smuts.  There  are  no  known  means  of  combating  the  rusts  when 
they  occur.  The  damage  may  be  somewhat  reduced,  however,  by 
early  planting  or  by  the  planting  of  varieties  which  mature  before  the 
black  rust  develops  and  by  planting  on  well-drained  land,  as  mois¬ 
ture  is  essential  to  the  development  of  rust.  The  Bed  Rustproof  oat 
is  quite  resistant  to  rust  in  the  South,  where  the  disease  is  usually 
prevalent,  but  is  much  less  resistant  in  other  sections.  Drilled  oats 
are  less  liable  to  injury  from  rust  than  those  sown  broadcast,  as  light 

424 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


41 


and  air  can  penetrate  between  the  drill  rows.  Rank  growth  result¬ 
ing  from  rich  soil,  excess  of  nitrogenous  fertilizers,  or  abundant 
moisture  also  favors  the  development  of  rust. 


Fig.  13.— Smut  of  oats:  Smutted  head  (on  the  right)  and  head  not  affected  by  smut  (on  the  left). 


OTHER  DISEASES. 

Several  other  diseases  sometimes  damage  the  oat  crop,  but  none 
of  them  is  so  common  or  causes  so  much  damage  as  do  the  rusts  and 
smuts.  In  very  wet  seasons  mildew  occurs  where  the  growth  is  rank 

424 


42 


OATS  :  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


and  the  oats  have  lodged  from  storms:  Cold,  wet  weather  early  in 
the  season  may  cause  the  leaves  of  the  oats  to  turn  yellow,  but  usu¬ 
ally  the  plants  recover  when  conditions  for  growth  become  more 
favorable.  The  injury  may  become  serious  if  the  unfavorable 
weather  continues  for  some  time.  Spikelet  blight,  a  disease  which 
is  readily  recognizable  by  the  presence  of  white,  barren  spikelets  as 
the  heads  develop,  is  sometimes  quite  prevalent,  but  the  real  nature 
of  the  trouble  is  not  well  understood.  Blade  blight,  supposedly  a 
bacterial  disease  causing  yellowing  of  the  oat  leaves,  is  believed  by 
some  to  be  associated  with  spikelet  blight.  It  has  recently  been  de¬ 
scribed  by  Prof.  Thomas  F.  Manns,  of  the  Ohio  station.  No  preven¬ 
tive  is  known  for  either  of  these  blights.  Ergot,  which  is  often  com¬ 
mon  on  rye  and  some  of  the  wild  grasses,  occurs  rarely  on  oats. 

INSECTS  INJURIOUS  TO  OATS. 

INSECTS  ATTACKING  THE  GROWING  PLANT. 

Oats  are  probably  less  subject  to  insect  injury  than  any  other 
important  small-grain  crop.  The  chinch  bug,  the  spring  grain- 
aphis  a  or  so-called  11  green  bug/’  and  the  army  worm  are  perhaps 
the  most  destructive,  but  severe  damage  from  the  attacks  of  even 
these  insects  occurs  at  rather  infrequent  intervals.  Oats  are  much 
less  frequently  injured  by  chinch  bugs  than  wheat,  rye,  or  barley. 
The  best  preventive  measure  is  the  burning  of  rubbish  along  fences 
and  in  fields  in  which  the  bugs  may  hibernate.  The  spring  grain- 
aphis  frequently  appears  on  young  grain  plants  of  all  kinds,  but 
causes  noticeable  damage  only  in  an  unusually  cold,  wet  spring,  pre¬ 
ceded  by  an  unusually  mild  winter,  when  conditions  are  especially 
favorable  to  its  development  and  at  the  same  time  unfavorable  to 
the  rapid  increase  of  its  natural  enemies.  As  it  frequently  makes 
its  appearance  in  small  areas,  from  which  it  spreads  over  the  field, 
plowing  under  these  areas  as  soon  as  noticed  is  sometimes  effective. 

INSECTS  ATTACKING  THE  STORED  GRAIN. 

Among  insects  commonly  attacking  stored  grain  are  the  grain 
weevils  and  the  Angoumois  grain  moth.  They  are  usually  more 
frequently  found  in  other  cereals  than  in  oats,  as  the  oat  hull  affords 
considerable  protection.  Injury  can  be  checked  by  fumigation  with 
carbon  bisulphid6  or  with  hydrocyanic-acid  gas.c  Both  of  these 

a  Detailed  descriptions  of  these  insects,  with  methods  of  control,  are  contained  in 
the  following  circulars  of  the  Bureau  of  Entomology,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Agriculture:  Cir¬ 
cular  93,  “The  Spring  Grain-Aphis,”  and  Circular  113,  “The  Chinch  Bug.” 

b  Farmers’  Bulletin  145,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Agriculture,  1902,  entitled  “Carbon  Bisul¬ 
phid  as  an  Insecticide,”  gives  complete  directions  for  the  use  of  this  gas  in  fumigating 
grain.  It  may  be  obtained  free  on  application  to  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

c  Circular  112,  Bureau  of  Entomology,  which  contains  directions  for  fumigating 
stored  cereals  with  hydrocyanic-acid  gas,  may  be  obtained  without  cost  on  applica¬ 
tion  to  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

424 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


43 


are  dangerous  poisons  and  must  be  handled  with  extreme  cau¬ 
tion.  Tight  bins  from  which  the  gases  can  not  escape  are  neces¬ 
sary.  Carbon  bisulphid  is  more  commonly  used  than  hydrocyanic- 
acid  gas  for  fumigating  grain.  The  vapor  given  off  by  the  bisulphid 
is  highly  inflammable,  hence  no  fire,  lighted  cigars,  etc.,  should  be 
brought  near  it  when  it  is  being  used.  The  gas  produces  unpleasant 
effects  when  inhaled,  so  that  care  should  be  taken  not  to  breathe 
much  of  it.  It  is  heavier  than  air  and  sinks  to  the  bottom  of  the  bin 
when  the  bisulphid  is  placed  in  vessels  on  top  of  the  grain  or  poured 
on  it.  From  1  to  2  pounds  of  the  bisulphid  is  sufficient  to  fumigate 
1  ton  of  grain  or  1,000  cubic  feet  of  bin.  Open  bins  will  require  a  still 
larger  quantity. 

SUMMARY. 

Oats  were  probably  first  cultivated  in  eastern  Europe  and  western 
Asia,  where  the  original  wild  form  is  supposed  to  have  existed. 

The  oat  belongs  to  the  grass  family  and  is  known  botanically  as 
Avena  sativa. 

This  crop  grows  best  on  soils  with  good  water-holding  capacity,  as 
it  requires  a  great  deal  of  moisture.  When  grown  for  grain,  phos¬ 
phorus  is  usually  the  most  important  fertilizing  element  which  can 
be  added.  Very  rich  soils,  especially  if  deficient  in  phosphorus,  cause 
rank  growth,  with  lodging  as  a  result.  When  grown  for  hay  or  for¬ 
age  nitrogenous  fertilizers  may  be  used. 

Oats  are  usually  grown  in  the  rotation  after  a  cultivated  crop, 
and  are  used  as  a  nurse  crop  for  grasses  or  clover.  They  are  some¬ 
times  grown  in  combination  with  other  crops.  When  grown  with 
barley  large  yields  of  grain  for  feeding  can  be  obtained,  while  with 
Canada  field  peas  or  vetch  excellent  forage  is  produced. 

Oats  do  best  on  a  rather  loose,  well-prepared  seed  bed.  The  com¬ 
mon  method  of  sowing  the  grain  broadcast  on  cornstalk  land  without 
preparation  and  covering  it  with  the  disk  harrow  is  careless  and 
uncertain.  Thorough  preparation  of  the  seed  bed  is  strongly  advised. 

Only  plump,  heavy  oats  should  be  used  for  seed.  The  seed  should 
be  treated  for  smut  before  sowing.  The  formalin  treatment  is 
effective  and  is  easily  applied. 

Drilling  usually  gives  better  germination,  a  more  nearly  uniform 
stand,  and  higher  yields  than  broadcast  seeding.  The  rate  of  seeding 
varies  with  the  locality  and  other  factors.  In  the  upper  Mississippi 
Valley  2\  to  3  bushels  are  usually  sown  to  the  acre.  Oats  should  be 
sown  as  early  in  the  spring  as  the  ground  can  be  worked. 

In  dry-farming  sections  harrowing  drilled  oats  while  the  plants  are 
small  increases  the  yield.  Spraying  with  a  solution  of  iron  sulphate 
to  kill  weeds  is  recommended  by  some  of  the  agricultural  experiment 
stations.  The  largest  yield  of  oats  per  inch  of  water  applied  is  usually 
obtained  in  the  irrigated  sections  by  the  use  of  15  to  20  inches. 

424 


44 


OATS:  GROWING  THE  CROP. 


Oats  are  usually  harvested  with  the  grain  binder,  set  up  in  shocks 
of  10  or  more  bundles,  and  allowed  to  cure  for  ten  days  or  two  weeks. 
They  are  then  stacked  or  hauled  direct  to  the  thrasher  and  thrashed. 
In  the  humid  regions  a  better  quality  of  grain  is  usually  obtained  at 
slightly  increased  cost  from  stack  thrashing  than  from  shock  thrash¬ 
ing.  Where  there  is  little  rainfall  there  is  no  advantage  in  stacking. 
The  mixing  of  grain  in  the  separator  and  the  introduction  of  weeds 
from  neighboring  farms  by  the  thrashing  outfit  should  be  carefully 
avoided.  The  thrashing  machine  should  be  adjusted  to  remove  all 
the  grain  from  the  straw  and  to  remove  the  trash  from  the  grain. 
The  grain  should  be  stored  in  clean,  dry  bins,  well  protected  from  the 
weather,  and  kept  free  from  vermin. 

The  average  yields  of  oats  vary  from  15  to  25  bushels  in  the  South¬ 
ern  States,  from  25  to  40  bushels  in  the  Northern  States,  and  from 
35  to  45  bushels  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  and  Pacific  States.  Yields 
of  100  to  150  bushels  to  the  acre  are  sometimes  produced  in  the 
Northwestern  States,  particularly  in  the  irrigated  regions. 

The  cost  of  production  is  estimated  at  from  20  to  25  cents  a  bushel. 
The  cost  per  bushel  of  very  low  yields  is  considerably  greater. 

Many  varieties  of  oats  are  grown  in  the  United  States.  These  vari¬ 
eties  differ  in  the  size,  color,  and  shape  of  the  grain,  the  length  of 
time  required  to  attain  maturity,  the  shape  and  size  of  the  head, 
the  yield,  and  in  winter  hardiness.  The  number  of  varieties  adapted 
to  any  particular  section  is  comparatively  small.  In  general,  reddish 
brown  (Red  Rustproof)  or  gray  (Winter  Turf)  oats  are  adapted  to  the 
South;  early  oats,  usually  yellow  in  color  (Sixty-Day  and  Kherson), 
to  the  Central  States;  and  white,  large-grained,  later  varieties  (Swedish 
Select,  Clydesdale,  Silvermine,  etc.)  to  the  Northern  States. 

The  improvement  of  the  crop  can  be  effected  through  the  seed  by 
grading  and  sowing  only  the  large,  plump  grain,  by  bulk  selection  of 
the  best  plants,  and  by  individual  plant  selections.  The  latter  is 
the  only  method  by  which  pedigreed  varieties  can  be  established. 
Good  varieties  are  sometimes  obtained  by  importation  from  foreign 
countries. 

The  principal  diseases  of  oats  are  smut  and  rust.  Smut  may  be 
controlled  by  the  use  of  the  formalin  solution;  good  preventive  meas¬ 
ures  against  rust  are  the  sowing  of  early  varieties  and  sowing  only  on 
well-drained  land. 

The  principal  insect  enemies  of  growing  oats  are  the  spring  grain- 
aphis,  the  chinch  bug,  and  the  army  worm.  The  remedies  applicable 
to  other  small-grain  crops  apply  to  oats.  Grain  weevils  and  moths 
do  rather  less  injury  to  oats  than  to  other  grains,  because  the  hull 
of  oats  serves  as  a  protection;  fumigation  with  carbon  bisulphid  or 
hydrocyanic-acid  gas  is  recommended  for  these  insects. 

424 


FARMERS’  BULLETINS 


Bulletins  in  this  list  will  be  sent  free,  so  long  as  the  supply  lasts,  to  any  resident 
of  the  United  States,  on  application  to  his  Senator,  Representative,  or  Dele¬ 
gate  in  Congress,  or  to  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C.  Because 
of  the  limited  supply,  applicants  are  urged  to  select  only  a  few  numbers,  choosing 
those  which  are  of  special  interest  to  them.  Residents  of  foreign  countries  should 
apply  to  the  Superintendent  of  Documents,  Government  Printing  Office,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  who  has  these  bulletins  for  sale.  Price  5  cents  each  to  Canada,  Cuba,  and 
Mexico;  6  cents  to  other  foreign  countries.  The  bulletins  entitled  “Experiment 
Station  Work”  give  briefly  the  results  of  experiments  performed  by  the  State  experi¬ 
ment  stations. 


22.  The  Feeding  of  Farm  Animals. 

27.  Flax  for  Seed  and  Fiber. 

28.  Weeds:  And  How  to  Kill  Them. 

30.  Grape  Diseases  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

32.  Silos  and  Silage. 

34.  Meats:  Composition  and  Cooking. 

35.  Potato  Culture. 

36.  Cotton  Seed  and  Its  Products. 

44.  Commercial  Fertilizers. 

48.  The  Manuring  of  Cotton. 

49.  Sheep  Feeding. 

51.  Standard  Varieties  of  Chickens. 

52.  The  Sugar  Beet. 

54.  Some  Common  Birds. 

55.  The  Dairy  Herd. 

56.  Experiment  Station  Work— I. 

60.  Methods  of  Curing  Tobacco. 

61.  Asparagus  Culture. 

62.  Marketing  Farm  Produce. 

64.  Ducks  and  Geese. 

65.  Experiment  Station  Work — II. 

69.  Experiment  Station  Work— III. 

73.  Experiment  Station  Work — IV. 

77.  The  Liming  of  Soils. 

78.  Experiment  Station  Work — V. 

79.  Experiment  Station  Work — VI. 

81.  Corn  Culture  in  the  South. 

82.  The  Culture  of  Tobacco. 

83.  Tobacco  Soils. 

84.  Experiment  Station  Work— VII. 

85.  Fish  as  Food. 

86.  Thirty  Poisonous  Plants. 

87.  Experiment  Station  Work — VIII. 

88.  Alkali  Lands. 

91.  Potato  Diseases  and  Treatment. 

92.  Experiment  Station  Work — IX. 

93.  Sugar  as  Food. 

96.  Raising  Sheep  for  Mutton. 

97.  Experiment  Station  Work — X. 

99.  Insect  Enemies  of  Shade  Trees. 

101.  Millets. 

103.  Experiment  Station  Work— XI. 

104.  Notes  on  Frost. 

105.  Experiment  Station  Work — XII. 

106.  Breeds  of  Dairy  Cattle. 

113.  The  Apple  and  How  to  Grow  It. 

114.  Experiment  Station  Work — XIV. 

118.  Grape  Growing  in  the  South. 

119.  Experiment  Station  Work— XV. 

120.  Insects  Affecting  Tobacco. 

121.  Beans,  Peas,  and  Other  Legumes  as  Food. 

122.  Experiment  Station  Work — XVI. 

126.  Practical  Suggestions  for  Farm  Buildings. 

127.  Important  Insecticides. 

128.  Eggs  and  Their  Uses  as  Food. 

131.  Household  Tests  for  Detection  of  Oleomar¬ 
garine  and  Renovated  Butter. 

133.  Experiment  Station  Work — XVIII. 

134.  Tree  Planting  on  Rural  School  Grounds. 

135.  Sorghum  Sirup  Manufacture. 

137.  The  Angora  Goat. 

138.  Irrigation  in  Field  and  Garden. 

139.  Emmer:  A  Grain  for  the  Semiarid  Regions. 

140.  Pineapple  Growing. 

142.  Nutrition  and  Nutritive  Value  of  Food. 

144.  Experiment  Station  Work — XIX. 

145.  Carbon  Bisulphid  as  an  Insecticide. 

149.  Experiment  Station  Work — XX. 

150.  Clearing  New  Land. 

152.  Scabies  of  Cattle. 

154.  Home  Fruit  Garden:  Preparation  and  Care. 

155.  How  Insects  Affect  Healtli  in  Rural  Districts. 

156.  The  Home  Vineyard. 

157.  The  Propagation  of  Plants. 

158.  How  to  Build  Small  Irrigation  Ditches. 

162.  Experiment  Station  Work— XXL 


164.  Rape  as  a  Forage  Crop. 

166.  Cheese  Making  on  the  Farm. 

1  vfi 

169.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXII. 

170.  Principles  of  Horse  Feeding. 

172.  Scale  Insects  and  Mites  on  Citrus  Trees. 

173.  Primer  of  Forestry.  Part  I:  The  Forest. 

174.  Broom  Corn. 

175.  Home  Manufacture  and  Use  of  Unfermented 
Grape  Juice. 

176.  Cranberry  Culture. 

177.  Squab  Raising. 

178.  Insects  Injurious  in  Cranberry  Culture. 

179.  Horseshoeing. 

181.  Pruning. 

182.  Poultry  as  Food. 

183.  Meat  on  the  Farm:  Butchering,  Curing,  etc. 

185.  Beautifying  the  Home  Grounds. 

186.  Experiment  Station  Work— XXIII. 

187.  Drainage  of  Farm  Lands. 

188.  Weeds  Used  in  Medicine. 

190.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXIV. 

192.  Barnyard  Manure. 

193.  Experiment  Station  Work— XXV. 

194.  Alfalfa  Seed. 

195.  Annual  Flowering  Plants. 

196.  Usefulness  of  the  American  Toad. 

197.  Importation  of  Game  Birds  and  Eggs  for 
Propagation. 

198.  Strawberries. 

200.  Turkeys. 

201.  Cream  Separator  on  Western  Farms. 

202.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXVI. 

203.  Canned  Fruits,  Preserves,  and  Jellies. 

204.  The  Cultivation  of  Mushrooms. 

205.  Pig  Management. 

206.  Milk  Fever  and  Its  Treatment. 

209.  Controlling  the  Boll  Weevil  in  Cotton  Seed 
and  at  Ginneries. 

210.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXVII. 

213.  Raspberries. 

218.  The  School  Garden. 

219.  Lessons  from  the  Grain  Rust  Epidemic  of  1904. 

220.  Tomatoes. 

221.  Fungous  Diseases  of  the  Cranberry. 

222.  Experiment  Station  Work— XXVIII. 

223.  Miscellaneous  Cotton  Insects  in  Texas. 

224.  Canadian  Field  Peas. 

225.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXIX. 

227.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXX. 

228.  Forest  Planting  and  Farm  Management. 

229.  The  Production  of  Good  Seed  Corn. 

231.  Spraying  for  Cucumber  and  Melon  Diseases. 

232.  Okra:  Its  Culture  and  Uses. 

233.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXXI. 

234.  The  Guinea  Fowl. 

235.  Preparation  of  Cement  Concrete. 

236.  Incubation  and  Incubators. 

237.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXXII. 

238.  Citrus  Fruit  Growing  in  the  Gulf  States. 

239.  The  Corrosion  of  Fence  Wire. 

241.  Butter  Making  on  the  Farm. 

242.  An  Example  of  Model  Farming. 

243.  Fungicides  and  Their  Use  in  Preventing  Dis¬ 
eases  of  Fruits. 

244.  Experiment  Station  Work— XXXIII. 

245.  Renovation  of  Worn-out  Soils. 

246.  Saccharine  Sorghums  for  Forage. 

248.  The  Lawn. 

249.  Cereal  Breakfast  Foods. 

250.  The  Prevention  of  Stinking  Smut  of  Wheat 
and  Loose  Smut  of  Oats. 

251.  Experiment  Station  Work— XXXIV 

252.  Maple  Sugar  and  Sirup. 

253.  The  Germination  of  Seed  Corn. 

254.  Cucumbers. 

(0 


II 


255.  The  Home  Vegetable  Garden. 

256.  Preparation  of  Vegetables  for  the  Table. 

257.  Soil  Fertility. 

258.  Texas  or  Tick  Fever  and  Its  Prevention. 

259.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXXV. 

260.  Seed  of  Red  Clover  and  Its  Impurities. 

262.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXXVI. 

263.  Practical  Information  for  Beginners  in  Irri¬ 

gation. 

264.  The  Brown-tail  Moth  and  How  to  Control  It. 

266.  Management  of  Soils  to  Conserve  Moisture. 

267.  Experiment  Station  Wrork— XXXVII. 

269.  Industrial  Alcohol:  Uses  and  Statistics. 

270.  Modern  Conveniences  for  the  Farm  Home. 

271.  Forage  Crop  Practices  in  Western  Oregon 

and  Western  Washington. 

272.  A  Successful  Hog  and  Seed-corn  Farm. 

273.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXXVIII. 

274.  Flax  Culture. 

275.  The  Gipsy  Moth  and  How  to  Control  It. 

276.  Experiment  Station  Work — XXXIX. 

277.  Alcohol  and  Gasoline  in  Farm  Engines. 

278.  Leguminous  Crops  for  Green  Manuring. 

279.  A  Method  of  Eradicating  Johnson  Grass. 

280.  A  Profitable  Tenant  Dairy  Farm. 

281.  Experiment  Station  Work — XL. 

282.  Celery. 

283.  Spraying  for  Apple  Diseases  and  the  Codling 

Moth  in  the  Ozarks. 

284.  Insect  and  Fungous  Enemies  of  the  Grape 

East  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

286.  Comparative  Value  of  Whole  Cotton  Seed 

and  Cotton-seed  Meal  in  Fertilizing  Cotton. 

287.  Poultry  Management. 

288.  Nonsaccharine  Sorghums. 

289.  Beans. 

290.  The  Cotton  Bollworm. 

291.  Evaporation  of  Apples. 

292.  Cost  of  Filling  Silos. 

293.  Use  of  Fruit  as  Food. 

294.  Farm  Practice  in  Columbia  Basin  Uplands. 

295.  Potatoes  and  Other  Root  Crops  as  Food. 

296.  Experiment  Station  Work— XLI. 

298.  Food  Value  of  Corn  and  Corn  Products. 

299.  Diversified  Farming  Under  the  Plantation 

System. 

301.  Home-grown  Tea. 

302.  Sea  Island  Cotton:  Its  Culture,  Improve¬ 

ment,  and  Diseases. 

303.  Corn  Harvesting  Machinery. 

304.  Growing  and  Curing  Hops. 

305.  Experiment  Station  Work — XLII. 

306.  Dodder  in  Relation  to  Farm  Seeds. 

307.  Roselle:  Its  Culture  and  Uses. 

309.  Experiment  Station  Work— XLIII. 

310.  A  Successful  Alabama  Diversification  Farm. 

311.  Sand-clay  and  Burnt-clay  Roads. 

312.  A  Successful  Southern  Hay  Farm. 

313.  Harvesting  and  Storing  Corn. 

314.  A  Method  of  Breeding  Early  Cotton  to  Es¬ 

cape  Boll-weevil  Damage. 

316.  Experiment  Station  Work— XLIV. 

317.  Experiment  Station  Work— XLV. 

318.  Cowpeas. 

319.  Demonstration  Work  in  Cooperation  with 

Southern  Farmers. 

320.  Experiment  Station  Work — XLVI. 

321.  The  Use  of  the  Split-log  Drag  on  Earth  Roads. 

322.  Milo  as  a  Dry-land  Grain  Crop. 

323.  Clover  Farming  on  the  Sandy  Jack-pine 

Lands  of  the  North. 

324.  Sweet  Potatoes. 

325.  Small  Farms  in  the  Corn  Belt. 

326.  Building  Up  a  Run-down  Cotton  Plantation. 

328.  Silver  Fox  Farming. 

329.  Experiment  Station  Work — XLVII. 

330.  Deer  Farming  in  the  United  States. 

331 .  Forage  Crops  for  Hogs  in  Kansas  and  Okla¬ 

homa. 

332.  Nuts  and  Their  Uses  as  Food. 

333.  Cotton  Wilt. 

334.  Experiment  Station  Work— XLVIII. 

335.  Harmful  and  Beneficial  Mammals  of  the 

Arid  Interior. 

337.  Cropping  Systems  for  New  England  Dairy 

Farms. 

338.  Macadam  Roads. 

339.  Alfalfa. 

341.  The  Basket  Willow. 


342.  Experiment  Station  Work — XLIX. 

343.  The  Cultivation  of  Tobacco  in  Kentucky 

and  Tennessee. 

344.  The  Boll  Weevil  Problem,  with  Special  Refer¬ 

ence  to  Means  of  Reducing  Damage. 

345.  Some  Common  Disinfectants. 

346.  The  Computation  of  Rations  for  Farm  Ani¬ 

mals  by  the  Use  of  Energy  Values. 

347.  The  Repair  of  Farm  Equipment. 

348.  Bacteria  in  Milk. 

349.  The  Dairy  Industry  in  the  South. 

350.  The  Dehorning  of  Cattle. 

351.  The TuberculinTestof CattleforTuberculosis. 

352.  The  Nevada  Mouse  Plague  of  1907-8. 

353.  Experiment  Station  Work— L. 

354.  Onion  Culture. 

355.  A  Successful  Poultry  and  Dairy  Farm. 

356.  Peanuts. 

357.  Methods  of  Poultry  Management  at  the  Maine 

Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 

358.  A  Primer  of  Forestry.  Part  II:  Practical  For¬ 

estry. 

359.  Canning  Vegetables  in  the  Home. 

360.  Experiment  Station  Work— LI. 

361.  Meadow  Fescue:  Its  Culture  and  Uses. 

362.  Conditions AffectingtheValueof MarketHay. 

363.  The  Use  of  Milk  as  Food. 

364.  A  Profitable  Cotton  Farm. 

365.  Farm  Management  in  Northern  Potato¬ 

growing  Sections. 

366.  Experiment  Station  Work — LII. 

367.  Lightning  and  Lightning  Conductors. 

368.  The  Eradication  of  Bindweed,  or  Wild  Morn¬ 

ing-glory. 

369.  How  to  Destroy  Rats. 

370.  Replanning  a  Farm  for  Profit. 

371.  Drainage  of  Irrigated  Lands. 

372.  Soy  Beans. 

373.  Irrigation  of  Alfalfa. 

374.  Experiment  Station  Work — LIII. 

375.  Care  of  Food  in  the  Home. 

377.  Harmfulness  of  Headache  Mixtures. 

378.  Methods  of  Exterminating  Texas-fever  Tick. 

379.  Hog  Cholera. 

380.  The  Loco-weed  Disease. 

381.  Experiment  Station  Work— LIV. 

382.  The  Adulteration  of  Forage-plant  Seeds. 

383.  How  to  Destroy  English  Sparrows. 

384.  Experiment  Station  Work— LV. 

385.  Boys’  and  Girls’ Agricultural  Clubs. 

386.  PotatoCultureon  Irrigated  Farmsof  the  West. 

387.  The  Preservative  Treatmentof  Farm  Timbers. 

388.  Experiment  Station  Work— LVI. 

389.  Bread  and  Bread  Making. 

390.  Pheasant  Raising  in  the  United  States. 

391.  Economical  Use  of  Meat  in  the  Home. 

392.  Irrigation  of  Sugar  Beets. 

393.  Habit-forming  Agents. 

394.  Windmills  in  Irrigation  in  Semiarid  West. 

395.  Sixty-day  and  Kherson  Oats. 

396.  The  Muskrat. 

397.  Bees. 

398.  Farm  Practice  in  the  Use  of  Commercial  Fer¬ 

tilizers  in  the  South  Atlantic  States. 

399.  Irrigation  of  Grain. 

400.  A  More  Profitable  Corn-planting  Method. 

401.  Protection  of  Orchards  in  Northwest  from 

Spring  Frosts  by  Fires  and  Smudges. 

402.  Canada  Bluegrass:  Its  Culture  and  Uses. 

403.  The  Construction  of  Concrete  Fence  Posts. 

404.  Irrigation  of  Orchards. 

405.  Experiment  Station  Work— LVII. 

406.  Soil  Conservation. 

407.  The  Potato  as  a  Truck  Crop. 

408.  School  Exercises  in  Plant  Production. 

409.  School  Lessons  on  Corn. 

410.  Potato  Culls  as  a  Sourceof  Industrial  Alcohol. 

411.  Feeding  Hogs  in  the  South. 

412.  Experiment  Station  Work— LVIII. 

413.  The  Care  of  Milk  and  Its  Use  in  the  Home. 

414.  Corn  Cultivation. 

415.  Seed  Corn. 

416.  Cigar-leaf  Tobacco  in  Pennsylvania. 

417.  Rice  Culture. 

418.  Game  Laws  for  1910. 

419.  Experiment  Station  Work — LIX. 

420.  Oats:  Distribution  and  Uses. 

421.  Control  of  Blowing  Soils. 

422.  Demonstration  Work  on  Southern  Farms. 


